Life in the West African country of Niger is hard in the best of times. Now the country is facing a food crisis that threatens hundreds of thousands of lives. A combination of factors -- nature, misguided policies, and neglect -- has left Niger teetering on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, and the world is struggling to respond.

Niger is one of the world's poorest countries. Nearly two-thirds of its 12 million citizens live on less than $1 a day. It has the world's second-highest mortality rate for children under the age of under 5: 25 percent will die before that birthday. Feeding all its citizens is always difficult, as less than 4 percent of Niger's land is considered arable. Droughts are common and the current one is the worst in 15 years. Locust outbreaks occur too frequently; last year's swarm was particularly bad.

The result has been a food crisis that has left nearly one-quarter of Niger's population severely hungry. As usual, children have been hardest hit. Some 800,000 children under the age of 5 suffer from hunger; by one estimate, 150,000 face severe malnutrition. International aid groups are trying to feed some 2.5 million people, but they do not have the resources. The U.N. World Food Program's current goal is to help the 40,000 people thought to be most vulnerable.