West Africa, Sahel region had minimal food security in April - AGRA Food Monitor

Most countries in West Africa and the Sahel Region continued to experience a minimal food security situation during April 2021, the new Food Security Monitor (FSM) has revealed.

This situation is projected to persist until September, sustained by the ongoing above-average off-season harvests across the Sahelian countries.

In the same period under review, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and South Sudan were identified as food insecurity hotspots.

This means more than 50 per cent of their total population has insufficient food for consumption. East Africa remained in a crisis food security situation during the month, with the severity being driven by multiple shocks, including below-average agricultural production, ongoing conflicts and the COVID19 pandemic.

In Southern Africa, most rural households are experiencing minimal food insecurity outcomes due to the ongoing green harvest.

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The monitor

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) FSM provides an overview assessment of the food security outlook in AGRA focused countries in East, West and Southern Africa, taking into account the movement of prices of main food staples and government interventions that impact on domestic and regional food trade, alongside the impact of forecast weather changes and environmental conditions on food security.

The FSM is produced with support from the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Africa Food Trade and Resilience Programme.

It said persistent conflicts across some countries, together with COVID-19 control measures that are disrupting livelihood activities mainly in informal markets, continue to affect food availability in the affected areas.

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Food consumption

According to the monitor, there is a prevalence of insufficient food consumption in West Africa with the figure at 97.9 million for April 2021. This is a 1.5 per cent increase from the previous month, suggesting that the region’s food security situation deteriorated slightly over the past month.

The situation varied across the different focus countries, with increases in people with insufficient food consumption recorded in Ghana, Mali and Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger and Togo.

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Price Monitoring

In terms of commodities pricing in West Africa, overall, maize prices increased in the past 12 months, with severity in the Nigerian and Togolese markets.

In most of the selected markets in the sub-region, the price surges ranged from 25 to 120 per cent in the past 12 months.

In Nigeria, food inflation rose by almost 23 per cent in March 2021, and some of the driving factors including conflicts (insurgencies and unrests), restrictions on food imports such as rice, and economic decline compounded by COVID-19 impacts, accounted for the food inflation situation.

Price surges were also observed for Ghana in the past six -12 months. However, the remaining periods under consideration have exhibited mixed results - while prices declined in the Bolga market, the Accra market saw a price increase.

In Ghana and Togo, the impact of Covid-19 and its attendant border and export restrictions may have influenced the food prices.

In Cote d’Ivoire, maize prices in the past one -12 months have increased by five per cent or more in Man market, while in Korhogo, except for the last three months, maize prices have declined, and it is expected to remain the same over the next three to six months.


FAO on food security

A report on “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2020” by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge.

It said there has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions.

The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue.