Food and nutrition situation in the Sahel and West Africa

According to the most recent analysis of the Cadre harmonisé, some 5.2 million people in the Sahel and West Africa are currently in need of food assistance. They could be 9.6 million during the next lean season in June-August 2018, if appropriate measures are not taken. Although the situation has improved in the Lake Chad basin, the food emergency still continues. Nigeria alone counts some 3.2 million people in a crisis phase or worse, including 450 000 people in phase 4 (emergency) and 1 800 people in phase 5 (famine). Six months ago, Nigeria still recorded more than double as many people in phase 3-5. Humanitarian interventions helped improve the situation. Northern Mali and the Liptako-Gourma region, a border area between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, are faced with recurrent food and nutrition insecurity. Some pockets of food insecurity require special attention.This is particularly the case of Cabo Verde which reports almost no harvest due to an exceptional drought. Livestock feed is a cause for concern in Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) where an early and very difficult lean season in the pastoral areas is likely to appear.