The number of food insecure people, apart from the most affected in Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone in West Africa as well as countries in Central Africa is projected to increase by 400% to a five-year high of 55 million for the 2024 June to August lean season.
The March 2024 Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis projects a four million increase in the number of food-insecure people in the region during the period.
According to the report, currency devaluation, restrictive trade practices and heightened inflation were the factors responsible for the worsened food situation across the region with Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone the most affected. Efforts by governments in the region have appreciated in recent years with countries like Sierra Leone launching its FEED SALONE initiative and encouraging private sector businesses to grow onions and rice, the staple food.
- It stated, “Nearly 55 million people in West and Central Africa will struggle to feed themselves in the June-August 2024 lean season. This figure represents a four-million increase in the number of people who are food-insecure compared to the November 2023 forecast and highlights a fourfold increase over the last five years.”
- “Economic challenges such as currency devaluations, soaring inflation, stagnating production, and trade barriers have worsened the food crisis, affecting ordinary people across the region with Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Mali being among the worst affected.”
Furthermore, the report noted that the prices of staple foods have soared between 10% and over 100% in the last five years across the region primarily caused by increased fuel and transport costs and sanctions from some ECOWAS countries.
Specifically, it mentioned that the currency weakness pass-through on food prices reached 30% in Nigeria 54% in Sierra Leone, 23% in Ghana and others.
It lamented the spate of food importation across the region and the increased import cost even as the region already has a deficit of 12 million tons of cereals in 2023/2024.
Insights
Staple food prices especially grains have soared in the past five years occasioned first by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war which pushed commodity prices to record highs. Last year, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal which guaranteed the safe passage of essential grains to countries in need.
- The effect of the elevated food prices has been dire in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where insecurity is rife and agricultural output is low leading to millions being pushed into hunger and starvation.
- The World Bank had earlier projected that West and Central Africa would see a minimal level of food insecurity with seven states in Northern Nigeria categorised as crisis-level food insecure.
- Nigeria’s food inflation rate for February jumped to 37.9% according to the NBS further highlighting the worsening levels of food inflation in the country.
WFP Sierra Leone Country Office: Food Security Monitoring System Report – February 2024
The February 2024 Food Security Monitoring System Report sheds light on the factors driving the decline in food security levels in Sierra Leone. It delves into household food security conditions to identify key trends and contributors. The rate of deterioration in the country’s food security situation has seen a steep curve over the past 2 years due to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global food crisis ignited by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Key findings of the February 2024 report indicate that 82 percent of the population are food insecure among which 18 percent of households are severely food insecure. This was an expected improvement from the last assessment conducted in the lean season, attributable to a relatively good harvest. Also, 68 percent of the surveyed households reported spending more than 75 percent of their total expenditure on food.
The Nutrition analysis shows a deterioration when compared with the data collected in the 2023 February and August FSMS; the Global Acute Malnutrition rates increased from 3.1 percent to 5 percent in February 2024.
The prices of staple food commodities, mirror the national macro-economic trends. Notably, the prices of both local and imported rice increased by 31 percent and 38 percent respectively from January 2023 to January 2024. The surge in the price of imported rice can be attributed to higher freight costs and the depreciation of the national currency against the United States Dollar. This situation is particularly alarming as household incomes remain stagnant in the face of rising expenses.
Increased input costs for agricultural production such as chemical fertilizers, improved seeds, farm tools, and high transportation costs to markets constitute the local factors that impact the income levels of smallholder farmers. Considering the nation’s economic dependence on the agricultural sector, which constitutes over half of its GDP, these stressors translate into increased food insecurity levels for most of Sierra Leoneans living in both rural and urban areas. However, the lack of alternate economic opportunities in rural regions also adds another dimension for households whose income source is smallholder farming.
