The number of people in food and nutrition crisis in West Africa could increase from 17 to 50 million between June and August 2020 thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the networks of Farmers’ Organizations and international NGOs said in a statement to APA on Tuesday.
By Abdourahmane Diallo
“Farmers, breeders, fishermen and processors are struggling to continue their activities and see their livelihoods threatened as the blessed month of Ramadan begins this week. The latter, which coincides with hunger and food insecurity, will test the people of West Africa in a period of fasting for some and of sharing,” the statement warns.
It explains this situation using the fact that in the cities as well as in the rural areas of the region, despite the efforts of states, populations are today facing difficulties in accessing food markets, a beginning of price increases, a decrease in the availability of some basic foodstuffs, consequences of the restrictive measures put in place such as lockdowns or curfews, border closures and insecurity in certain areas.
According to the president of the Association for the Promotion of Livestock in the Sahel and Savannah (APESS) in Burkina Faso, Amadou Hamadoun Dicko, quoted in the document, “in a few days, the 100 kg bag of millet has risen from CFA16,000 to CFA19,000 and the price of a litre of cooking oil has almost doubled.”
Similarly, Mr. Dicko said “for the farmers, the price of a sack of cotton cake to feed the animals has increased. With the virus, in addition to the insecurity, I wonder how people will live through the Ramadan this year”.
The NGOs says, the coronavirus crisis combined with insecurity, exacerbates the threat to market stability and hits hard an already very fragile food situation.
In countries facing humanitarian crises, access to food has become very difficult.
In Burkina Faso or Niger, humanitarian aid is unable to reach and cover the food needs of thousands of displaced people.
Pastoralist communities, already hard hit by the impacts of climate change, are also impacted, as they can no longer ensure the transhumance of livestock, made impossible by the closure of regions or borders, which risks increasing conflicts between pastoralists and farmers, NGOs warn.
On the basis of these observations, the leaders of the networks of Farmers’ Organizations and international NGOs call on all governments to control prices, ensure the supply of markets with food from family farms and the transport of goods, and to set up social safety nets to help the most vulnerable.
In this global crisis, regional and international solidarity is also required and the support of donors to West African states, farmers’ organizations and civil society to help them face this crisis in a fragile regional context is indispensable, the signatories to the communiqué say.
ARD/te/lb/as/APA