The countries of the Sahel are not inactive in the face of the threatening food and nutrition crises. Their action made it possible to contain the threats, aggravated by the pandemic, violence and natural disasters.
In the Sahel, as in other regions of the world, the year 2020 will have exacerbated the food and nutrition crises. The Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) and the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) draw up a comprehensive and illustrated picture of the region’s needs, threats for the future, as well as the efforts undertaken to limit these scourges.
“It is important to remember that each year, millions of people are rescued and hundreds of thousands of children benefit from nutrition programs,” explains Laurent Brossard of the CSAO. “Without the continued mobilization of all stakeholders, the situation would be much more serious.”
The number of people experiencing acute food insecurity has increased over the past five years, mainly due to insecurity and large-scale displacement in countries affected by conflict. This increase is also due to economic shocks and extreme weather events in some countries as well as the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The seasonal variations typical of the region are marked by the precariousness of the lean season in the Sahelian countries (June-August), a period of three months between two harvests when food reserves are low. The food situation generally improves with the arrival of new harvests.
The tension is increasingly palpable in Nigeria. Almost 8.65 million Nigerians were in “crisis” and beyond in June-August 2020. Meaning an additional 2.7 million people were in need of emergency assistance compared to November 2019.
Welcome reopening of borders!
One in two food insecure Nigerians live in the northeast of the country. And the urban south has been heavily affected by the negative consequences of the lockdowns and has limited regional trade with neighboring countries. The closure of the border with Benin and Niger (since August 2019) has contributed to the increase in food prices.
Preventive measures to contain the pandemic have severely affected informal workers in the urban economy. Nigerians rely heavily on their food purchases in some of the highest priced markets in West Africa.
The Liptako-Gourma region – made up of the border areas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – is the second hotbed of acute food insecurity in the region. The border areas of these three countries have a much larger food insecure population than the rest of their respective territories. Almost half of the food insecure population of these three countries (2.7 million out of 5.5 million people) live in this region.
Insecurity has been and continues to be an aggravating factor, and can be observed in the Liptako-Gourma and in the Lake Chad basin. Many areas are difficult to access, making it difficult to analyze the situation and deliver aid. Additional logistical obstacles hampered the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid.
Countries quickly made significant efforts to anticipate and respond to the crisis announced a year ago. Six countries (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Chad) formulated their response plans at the start of 2020 for a total amount of more than 400 billion CFA francs (610 million euros).
The plans have different components: food assistance, protection of livelihoods (resilience) and fight against malnutrition. A part is also devoted to coordination and the monitoring-evaluation system. The budget and its distribution vary by country. For example, in Niger, the National Support Plan includes measures aimed at strengthening the resilience of chronically vulnerable households, through multi-year social safety nets.
Burkina Faso’s efforts!
In spring 2020, countries, with the support of their partners, significantly increased their response resources to deal with the crisis. For example, Senegal’s Food Security Emergency Plan (PUSA) extends the field of action to all targets likely to be affected by the effects of the pandemic.
The PUSA budget thus increases by 114.9 billion CFA francs (175 million euros), or 13 times the initial budget. In Niger, the response plan has also been transferred to the response plan to the coronavirus pandemic. This ensured that food security was taken into account, alongside other priorities such as health and education.
The report is particularly interested in Burkina Faso, where a response and support plan is being implemented for populations vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition. It takes into account the worsening security situation and the impact of the health crisis. The budget has been increased by 13.3 billion CFA francs (20.1 million euros), almost tripling in two years.
The revised plan reflects the new needs of the internally displaced populations; specific actions have been carried out – as far as possible, in areas with difficult access.
Measures relating to the fight against the coronavirus (quarantine of affected towns, closure of markets, curfews) hampered the implementation of certain activities. The government therefore took a series of mitigation measures, such as the creation of subsidized grain outlets and free food distribution.
It also launched a solidarity fund for the benefit of actors in the informal sector, in particular women, to revive fruit and vegetable trading activities. The lifting of restrictions and the reopening of the main markets allowed a resumption of commercial activities contributing to a better level of supply of agricultural markets.
Reference: http://www.fao.org/cfs/home/plenary/cfs45/side-events/059/en/
