A peanut paste help clamp down malnutrition in Niger

A peanut-based supplement called Plumpy’nut, tried and tested by humanitarian aid organisations such as Doctors without Borders and UNICEF in Nigeria and Uganda is making inroads in Niger.

The country is plagued by food and humanitarian crises repeatedly and have more than 300,000 displaced persons and refugees on its territory.

While about 60 thousand have fled Boko Haram’s insurgency in neighbouring Nigeria to the already-under resourced country.

Plumpy’nut is what’s known as a ready-to-use treatment food (RUTF) and has considerably helped to deal with the hunger situation especially amongst young children, mostly affected

Aminatou Mamou, director of intensive nutritional recovery center said the supplement is a food rich in protein, energy, vitamins, iron.

“In any case all the elements are necessary for proper development of the malnourished,“she said.

Food Transformation Company (STA) is the only company which produces Plumpy’nut in West Africa. The factory has tripled its production since the beginning of the year and is planning to double it again in September.

Experts say the paste has “radically” changed the care of severely malnourished children in developing countries.Most recently, UNICEF has asked that Plumpy’nut be distributed to Syrian areas under siege and blocked by military forces from receiving deliveries of life-saving food and medicine.