Hunger, Africa: Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger are facing one of the worst food crises in recent years

ROMA – The level of food insecurity is growing in West and Central African countries, reports theInternational Rescue Committee (IRC). According to the forecasts of Harmonized Framework – a tool that helps to process data on present and future food consumption in countries at risk – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria in the next lean period, which runs from June to August, will find themselves facing levels of hunger corresponding to phase 3 of the classification IPCwhat insiders already consider to be a crisis level.

Hunger. In the central Sahel alone: ​​Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, 7.5 million people suffer from hunger and the consequences of malnutrition. Last year there were 5.4 million. Malnutrition, which is closely related to food insecurity, especially affects children under five: in some parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, rates of acute malnutrition are expected to reach critical levels above 15 percent during the lean season. In concrete terms it means that more than one in six children will suffer the most serious consequences of hunger. In Central and West Africa, food insecurity has progressively worsened over the past five years. Climate change, including recurring droughts and floods, destroys crops and livestock and transforms the possibility of purchasing and producing food into a daily challenge. Today, malnutrition and food insecurity push thousands of young men and women to migrate both within and outside the region primarily to fight hunger.

The case of Mali. 1.37 million people will face acute levels of food insecurity between June and August, while almost 121 thousand Malians are already in the emergency phase and around 2,600 are at catastrophe level. The data signals a slight worsening compared to 2023, when 1.26 million people needed humanitarian assistance to survive. Conflict remains the main factor triggering food insecurity in Mali: the first three months of this year saw an intensification of violence against civilians compared to the same period in 2023, especially in the northern areas of the country, after the withdrawal of the United Nations mission MINUSMA in December 2023. The greatest concerns focus on the regions of Timbuktu, Ménaka, Gao and Kidal, where blockades imposed by armed groups severely limit the movement of goods and people. In the Ménaka area, where 65 percent of the population has been displaced and several locations are inaccessible to humanitarian organizations, hunger levels are already close to famine.

The financing. The International Rescue Committee has begun to address the food crisis in Africa over the last ten years, starting from Mali, Niger and Chad, and then expanding interventions to other countries in the region. However, with the humanitarian response plan only 10 percent funded to date, the chances of concretely helping the 7.5 million people who will find themselves in need between June and August decrease.