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West Africa - Food Security Highlights, January 2022

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Highlights

West Africa and Sahel are facing an unprecedented food insecurity driven by compounded multiple factors, including severe rainfall deficits, insecurity, soaring food prices and slow economic recovery.

  1. It is projected that the upcoming 2022 lean season, between June-August, 38 million people will become food insecure, an increase of 22% in comparison to last year, with 2.6 million people in phase 4 and approximatively 14,000 in phase 5 (Catastrophe, only in north-eastern Nigeria).

  2. Total rainfall amounts received across the region are lower than in 2011, and several countries were affected by a late start of the season and long dry spells in September and October, which occurred at a critical stage of crop development, green up and maturity period of major cereals, and are comparable to rainfall deficits recorded in the severe droughts of 1983 and 2011. Consequently, huge cereals production deficits have been recorded in many countries. For instance, in Chad, in the Sahel West farmers lost 47% of their cereals production. In Niger, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Côte d’Ivoire, respectively 38%, 10%, 18% in Gambia, 9% of the total cereal production was lost.

  3. Insecurity affects populations’ ability to access and cultivate their lands. Analyses of high-resolution satellite imagery conducted by WFP clearly highlight how agricultural surface areas have reduced in recent years, particularly in crisis hotspot areas such as the Central Sahel – a dynamic that is particularly concerning as some of the affected regions are areas of high production.

  4. The price of locally produced food remains abnormally high, driven by the production deficit across the region. At the same time, the prices of imported food commodities such as rice, wheat, sugar, oil and maize are at a record high, driven by increases on international markets, transport costs and trade barriers. In Senegal and Burkina Faso maize price has increased respectively by 60% and 50% compared to the five-year average. In Niger,
    Sorghum price increased by 40%. In Guinea, imported rice price gone up by 50%.