The Sahel

Irina Fuhrmann

Below-average rainfall and crop production shortages in 2011 have resulted in reduced food and livestock fodder availability in parts of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, and elsewhere in the Sahel region of West Africa, where many vulnerable families are still recovering from the 2009–2010 food crisis. USAID staff in Washington, D.C., and in the region are closely monitoring the situation across the Sahel in conjunction with U.S. embassies and relief agency partners.  

Latest Sahel Fact Sheet

Sahel Food Insecurity and Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #16 (417kb PDF) and map (208kb PDF)

Key Developments

In general, food security conditions in most of the Sahel have stabilized and are expected to improve to No Acute Food Insecurity—Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 1—in October and November, according to the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Nonetheless, FEWS NET notes that ongoing flooding and increasing numbers of desert locusts remain significant threats and could reduce this year’s agricultural production in some areas. Continuing insecurity and related displacement could also prompt above-average food assistance needs in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger in early 2013.

To date, floods—resulting from heavy seasonal rains in parts of the Sahel—have affected or displaced approximately 21,000 people throughout Burkina Faso, 25,000 people in northern Cameroon, 500,000 people in Chad, 9,000 people in Mali, and 527,000 people in Niger, according to international media and relief agency sources.

In Senegal, flooding triggered by severe rainfall since mid-August has affected more than 260,000 people, according to a recent U.N. rapid assessment of the country’s flooded areas. On September 13, U.S. Ambassador Lewis A. Lukens declared a disaster due to the effects of the floods. In response, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) is providing $50,000 to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for flood-relief activities in affected communities, including a hygiene awareness campaign and the provision of supplies such as mosquito nets, boots, and pumps to help remove standing water.

To date in FY 2012, the U.S. Government (USG) has provided more than $378 million in humanitarian assistance to the Sahel for agricultural and livelihoods interventions, direct food aid, assistance to displaced individuals, and logistical and humanitarian coordination support.

USG HUMANITARIAN FUNDING PROVIDED IN FY 2012

*This figure includes funding for both disaster response and disaster risk reduction activities (As of September 14, 2012).