West Africa
Western Sahel gets bad start on agriculture season

afrol News, 29 July - At the beginning of the 2002/03 agricultural season in western Africa, climatic conditions have been difficult. The rainy season came late and June rains were insufficient in the westernmost parts of the continent. The bad start of the season may influence food security in 2003, observers warn. 

According to the last West Africa report by the US agency Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS), the Western part of the Sahel had insufficient rains during the main sowing season; June. This includes the countries Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria. 

Sowing of the main cultures (millet, sorghum, maize and cotton) has therefore been delayed and limited. In years where the rainy season comes late or gives insufficient precipitation, farmers usually limit the fields they sow the most possible, thus also limiting the risk of losing agricultural inputs. Harvests will be accordingly low.

FEWS had collected precipitation data from satellite images, coupled with data from ground during the month of June. The combined data showed "an overall difficult beginning of the agricultural season in West Africa, primarily related to the insufficiency and bad distribution of the rains," FEWS reports. 

The overall quantity of the June rains was also low, compared to the 1995-2001 average. Of particular concern were the southern half of Mali, Burkina Faso, the north of Nigeria, the south of Chad and the countries of the Gulf of Guinea, were rains have been much lower than the average. 

Satellite images had also confirmed the feared consequences of the inadequate rains. By the end of June, the sown surfaces in West Africa were lower than those of last year and of an average year in all the countries of the Sahel and Sudan zones, except Niger.

Not all developments were negative, however. During the last days of June, rains were intensifying, which could lead to some more areas being sown. 

Further, the northern parts of the Sahel - in particular Niger, part of Burkina Faso, northern Mali, Mauritania and northern Senegal - had had rains over the month's average. These rains had mostly come in the beginning of June. In these areas, the natural vegetation cover was also reaching a normal density for the season or being denser than the normal. 

At present, the food security situation was generally normal in West Africa, FEWS reports, although there were many local variations. Cereals - especially millet - were however expensive at markets all over the region, in particular in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad. Millet prices were still on the rise, although there still exists a food surplus over most of the Sahelian zone. 

Countries with an especially difficult food security situation included Mauritania, where several natural disasters had raised the number of communities rated as "highly vulnerable" from 11 to 31 percent of society at large within the last year. Also Cape Verde - were 18 percent of the population faced very low harvests last year - had a concerning food security situation. In Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso, only local areas faced a difficult food security situation this year. 

The last agricultural year had been fairly good in most of West Africa. This is reflected in FEWS' positive food security reporting from these countries. In most of Burkina Faso, 2002 harvests and food security reflected a "satisfactory situation". In The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Chad, the situation was "generally good". 

Sources: Based on FEWS  and afrol archives