FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Above-average precipitation expected in 2013

• Cereal production recovered significantly in 2012 from previous year’s low level

• Coarse grain prices show mixed trends, while imported rice prices remain mostly stable

People in south-western Senegal are suffering the combined effects of a long dry season and an armed conflict. Obtaining water is a daily challenge for these communities, which rely on agriculture to survive, says ICRC.

Minimal food insecurity expected through next harvests

KEY MESSAGES

The consolidated seasonal forecast (NOAA, ECMWF, UK MO and others ) suggests an average to above average 2013/14 rainy season, with rainfall likely to support average harvests in October.

Average household stocks, the pursuit of normal livelihood strategies, and the declining prices of imported broken rice will help to maintain Minimal (IPC Phase 1) food insecurity through September, leading up to the main harvest in October.

DAKAR, 30 May 2013 (IRIN) - As violence rages in northern Nigeria, and international peacekeepers gear up to keep the peace in northern Mali, fears abound that Islamist movements will spread across borders, stoking instability elsewhere in the region, including Senegal which is not immune to the spread of extremist rhetoric, argues a just-published report by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS).

“Purchase from Africans for Africa”, or PAA Africa, is an innovative programme recently launched in Senegal based on Brazil’s experience with its “Food Purchase Programme (PAA)”. The goal of PAA Africa is two-pronged: to increase access to food and support small-holder farms.

Dakar – PAA Africa is a relatively new programme that supports food purchases from smallholder farmers and focuses on the participatory and social aspects to improve food security and nutrition.

Highlights

• According to government and partner data, nearly 3,000 new SAM cases have been treated in Senegal in the first quarter of 2013, adding up to 16,310 admissions since the beginning of the response. Sixteen per cent of children treated so far this year suffered from complications.

• In April the number of nutrition facilities increased from 605 to 817, that is 87% of the UNICEF target (June 2012 to June 2013). At least half of these also have the WASH minimum package.

In parts of West Africa, the Peace Corps is expanding opportunities for its Volunteers to receive training in combating hunger and undernutrition.

Peace Corps Volunteers are closely integrated with the communities they serve, often supporting local community health workers or even providing counseling themselves to caregivers responsible for the health and nutrition of family members.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Cereal production recovered significantly in 2012 from previous year’s low level

• Coarse grain prices show mixed trends, while imported rice prices remain mostly stable

04/16/2013 03:12 GMT

by Frankie Taggart

DAKAR, April 16, 2013 (AFP) - On a tiny island a 20-minute ferry ride from the Senegalese capital Dakar, holidaymakers congregate around tour guides at the Maison des Esclaves museum to learn of the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade.

Yet few realise that in the religious schools dotted among their hotels modern-day slaveholders are abusing and starving thousands of west African children who are forced onto the streets to beg for their unscrupulous masters.