Food Crisis in Sahel

More than 18 million people across West and Central Africa are facing a food crisis following erratic rains that have caused poor food harvests and water shortages. There are signs that the humanitarian crisis will deteriorate particularly in Mali.

Oxfam hopes to reach 1.3 million people across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and the Gambia with humanitarian aid. But we need to raise more money in order to do so.

Donate

We aim to raise $57 million for our response in the Sahel. While we have managed to collect about three quarters of this amount so far, a gap of $14.7 million remains – which would result in leaving thousands of vulnerable people without food, clean water and vital assistance. Please consider helping fund our emergency work in West and Central Africa. These Oxfam affiliates are running direct appeals:

• Oxfam America
• Oxfam Australia
• Oxfam Belgium in Dutch or in French
• Oxfam Canada
• Oxfam Germany
• Oxfam GB
• Oxfam Italy
• Oxfam Hong Kong
• Oxfam New Zealand
• Oxfam Novib (Netherlands)
• Oxfam-Québec
• Intermón Oxfam (Spain)

Alternatively, you can make a donation to the general emergency fund of your nearest national Oxfam affiliate. Your money will be used to fund our emergency work worldwide, which includes responding in countries such as Niger, Mali and Chad.

What Oxfam is doing

Across the region, our response has reached more than a million people so far.

In Burkina Faso, we aim to reach over 285,000 people, including some 77,000 refugees, with water and public health work, food, cash for work activities, animal health and food programs for pastoralist communities, and assistance to refugees from Mali.

In Mali, we initially aimed to reach 350,000 people, but this target has been reduced to 160,000 due to the deteriorating security situation in northern Mali, which is severely hampering emergency response and aggravating the food security crisis there. Our humanitarian program in northern Mali – based in the city of Gao – continues to function but at reduced capacity, focusing on cash transfers. In southern Mali, where the majority of people affected by the food security crisis are living, we are scaling up our activities to help vulnerable families with cash transfers, water and public health related work.

In Mauritania, Oxfam is working closely with some of the poorest families mainly around the Gorgol and Brakhna regions. We anticipate reaching 70,000 people this year. Our work is largely supporting pastoralist communities, including food for cattle, cash transfers, the rehabilitation of wells, and water and sanitation programs. We have also started a ‘co-op’ vegetable gardens program for 1,300 women by pumping water from a river, and launched a refugee program to provide water and sanitation to refugees and host population in the east of the country.

In Chad, where Oxfam has been present for over 45 years, we aim to reach over 271,000 people for the current crisis with cash transfers, seed distribution, food for herds, veterinary care, construction and rehabilitation of wells and public health promotion. We have reached 77% of the beneficiaries so far.

In Niger, Oxfam and our partners are delivering cash for work, cash transfers and water and sanitation programs. We aim to reach some 500,000 people among vulnerable families, pastoralist communities, refugees from Mali and the poorest families who host them. Our partners are also fixing water points and restoring cereal banks. We have reached 339,000 beneficiaries so far.

In Senegal, we have reached 44,000 people across the regions of Kolda and Kedougou. Our program includes cash transfers so people can buy food, and seeds and fertilizers for the upcoming planting season, as well as hygiene promotion and rehabilitating community wells.

In the Gambia, we will be complementing the ongoing Government response efforts with water and sanitation as well as hygiene promotion. We aim to reach 4,400 affected people.

The situation in the Sahel

A range of factors have contributed to the current crisis: Low rainfall and water levels, poor harvests and lack of pasture, high food prices and a drop in remittances from migrants are all causing serious problems.

Infographic: 18 million at risk in the Sahel food crisis

According to national early warning systems, cereal production is down compared to the five year average, with Mauritania and Chad showing deficits of over 50% compared to last year. National food reserves are dangerously low, while prices of some key cereals have dramatically increased: prices of corn in the Sahel are 60-85% higher than last five year average prices.

Recent reports say these many people are estimated to be vulernable to food insecurity:

• 5.5 million people in Niger
• 4.6 million people in Mali
• 2 million in Burkina Faso
• 700,000 people (over one quarter of the population) in Mauritania.

In Chad, 13 out of 22 regions could be affected by this food crisis: some 3.6 million people don’t consistently have enough to eat.

While an immediate response to the current crisis is crucial to protect people in 2012, preventing future crises will require action to address the root causes and provide longer-term support for the poorest people in a region where 300,000 children die from malnutrition-related diseases in a ‘non-crisis’ year.

Working to break the cycle of hunger

Africans Act 4 Africa, Avaaz, Oxfam and other agencies launched a petition asking governments to act urgently to break the cycle of hunger.

On Friday 10 August, we handed in this petition with more than 600,000 names to UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, who was hosting world leaders for a Hunger Event in London.

In the coming months we will continue to take that message to more world leaders, to put the Sahel food crisis and hunger at the top of the global agenda.

Together we can ensure that, in a world where there's enough food to go around, no one has to go to bed hungry.

November 2012

Related links

Blog: Hunger calls in Africa’s Sahel region

Photos: Baaba Maal visits drought-stricken Mauritania (February 2012)

Story: Oxfam's humanitarian program of destocking cattle in Niger

Video: Oxfam's Fred Perraut reports from Chad

Report: Escaping the Hunger Cycle: Pathways to resilience in the Sahel (November 2011)

Issue Briefing: Food Crisis in the Sahel: Five steps to break the hunger cycle in 2012 (April 2012)

Pinterest: Check out our #Sahel2012 board