West Africa Food Crisis
24 August 2005
2005
Food Situation in West Africa Remains Precarious for Many
Erratic rainfall, locusts, and gradual desertification combined last year to ruin crops and pastureland across West Africa, forcing millions of people into a severe food crisis. Today, the situation throughout the region remains precarious for many of them.
Debt, shrinking purchasing power, and the threat of avian flu all weigh heavily on people struggling to recover from a crisis that, at its roots, is a consequence of deep and chronic poverty. According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso have some of the lowest living standards in the world, with Niger ranking last among 177 nations. Recurring drought, lack of access to basic services, and poor governmental policies continue to fuel that poverty.
Even as the rains came and went across the Sahel and harvests led to a limited drop in cereal prices last fall, Oxfam has continued to offer support to hard-hit communities. Cash-for-work projects, stockpiling of food, and helping herders to replenish their stocks are among the programs Oxfam has supported.
Niger
For many of Niger’s 12 million people, uncertainty marks their days particularly for those still burdened by debt from last year’s crisis.
Admissions of young children to nutrition centers in affected zones are now on the rise—earlier than the traditionally leanest months of June, July, and August. In Maradi, in the southern part of the country where the crisis hit hardest last year, more than 1,000 people per week—most of them children—are seeking care for moderate and severe malnutrition.
Oxfam is conducting cash-for-work projects in the northern Ouallam area of southwestern Niger as well as in herding communities around Dakoro in the Maradi region. We are also stockpiling food in anticipation of shortages in the markets that serve the most isolated areas.
Aid agencies remain concerned about the emerging threat of avian flu, already detected in the country, and the effect it could have on people’s work and their access to food. Also of concern is a new ban on journalist accreditations for reporters who want to travel in the country to cover the food crisis.
Mali
Overall, the food situation in Mali, which ranks 174th on the UN's Human Development Index, is better than it is in Niger, though Oxfam is concerned food will become scarce once the planting season is in full swing and families have exhausted their stocks of food.
A recent analysis showed that the global acute malnutrition rate for children under the age of five in Menaka, an area bordering Niger, was at 7.8 percent. While that figure is low for this part of the country, it follows the harvest. The rate reflects the percentage of people that are moderately or severely malnourished as a result of a recent decline in health or diet.
In the arid region north of Gao, west of Menaka, the situation is somewhat better than last year, but Oxfam remains concerned about the potential for people’s purchasing power to drop as prices for food climb during the lean season.
Among the programs Oxfam is working on in Mali are cash-for-work and voucher-for-work projects. We are also continuing with our programs to help local herders replace their animals.
Mauritania
The situation in Mauritania, which ranks 152 on the Human Development Index, is now better than it was last year, particularly in the areas where herders live. Nevertheless, chronic food insecurity plagues this country of 2.9 million people. The World Food Program is preparing to distribute 2,300 tons of cereal in the coming weeks to an estimated 100,000 people.
Though there was an improvement in the most recent harvest, people have been trying to pay off their debts before they can begin stockpiling in anticipation of the coming lean season.
Oxfam has just completed a cash-for-work project in the country and will likely continue its work there in partnership with the World Food Program.
