West Africa Faces Food Crisis With Over 27m Already Suffering From Hunger – OXFAM
By Abdullahi idris,Bauchi
A Humanitarian Agency, Oxfam has disclosed that West Africa faces its worst food crisis in ten years with over 27 million people already suffering from hunger.
The Non governmental organization issues this statement in Bauchi through its representative.
According to a statement issued by Oxfam’s Communication Officer, Rita Abiodun and signed by Oxfam’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Assalama Dawalack, this number could rise to 38 million this June, a new historic level and already an increase by more than a third over last year, unless urgent action is taken.
The statement stated that this alert was issued by eleven international organizations in response to new analyses of the March 2022 Cadre Harmonisé (CH), ahead of the virtual conference on the food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel and Lake Chad organized by the European Union and the Sahel and West Africa Club.
It said over the past decade, far from abating, food crises have been increasing across the West African region, including in Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mali, and Nigeria, adding that between 2015 and 2022, the number of people in need of emergency food assistance nearly quadrupled, from 7 to 27 million.
“Cereal production in some parts of the Sahel has dropped by about a third compared to last year.
Family food supplies are running out. Drought, floods, conflict, and the economic impacts of COVID-19 have forced millions of people off their land, pushing them to the brink” says Assalama Dawalack Sidi, Oxfam’s regional director for West and Central Africa”
“The situation is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to move to different communities and to live with host families who are already living in difficult conditions themselves.
There is not enough food, let alone food that is nutritious enough for children. We must help them urgently because their health, their future and even their lives are at risk” Save the Children’s director for West and Central Africa, Philippe Adapoe said
” Malnutrition is steadily increasing in the Sahel. The United Nations estimated that 6.3 million children aged 6-59 months will be acutely malnourished this year – including more than 1.4 million children in the severe acute malnutrition phase – compared to 4.9 million acutely malnourished children in 2021″ The statement read.
“I had almost no milk left so I gave my baby other food. He often refused to take it and lost weight.
In addition, he had diarrhoea, which worsened his condition,” said Safiatou, a mother who had to flee her village because of the violence in Burkina Faso.
OXFAM stated that in addition to conflict and insecurity, pockets of drought and poor rainfall distribution have reduced communities’ food sources, especially in the Central Sahel, adding that to make up for the gap, many families are selling their assets, jeopardizing their productive capacity and the future of their children, a situation which can force young girls into early marriage and other forms of gender-based violence may increase as food becomes scarcer.
“The rains were scarce. There is no more food. With the lack of grazing, the sheep are getting thinner and this forces us to sell them at a loss.
I used to have twelve sheep, but now I only have one left”, explains Ramata Sanfo, a herder from Burkina Faso. “I would like to have my cattle back so that I have enough money and my children can go back to school.”
“The crisis in Europe worsens already disastrous situation Food prices have increased by 20-30 per cent over the past five years in West Africa. While food reserves are dwindling in the Sahel, the crisis in Ukraine is making the situation dangerously worse.
“According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food prices could rise by another 20 per cent worldwide, an unbearable increase for already fragile populations. In addition, the crisis is likely to cause a significant decrease in wheat availability for six West African countries that import at least 30 per cent, and in some cases more than 50 per cent, of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine”
“Another likely effect of the crisis in Europe is a sharp drop in international aid to Africa.
Many donors have already indicated that they may make cuts in their funding to Africa. For example, Denmark has announced that it will postpone part of its bilateral development assistance to Burkina Faso (50 per cent in 2022) and to Mali (40 per cent in 2022) rather than fund the reception of people who have fled their homes in Ukraine with new money” The statement read in parts.