Staying to survive in the Sahel region of West Africa
When Kimba Abdou went to a local store a year ago to buy a 100-kilogram bag of millet, a staple cereal for Nigeriens, he parted with 20,000 West African francs, called CFA, or about $31. The last time he checked, the price had gone up by more than 50%: a bag was now $55.
The 57-year-old farmer and his family of seven sons, five daughters and two wives live in the village of Mougoudjougou, in the Tillabéri region of western Niger, which has been hard hit by attacks by the Islamic State militias. Now their community is being hit again, this time by rising gas and grain prices and international aid being diverted to the conflict in Ukraine.
“Four weeks ago, we were victims of an attack, which cost us three injuries who were admitted to hospital,” Abdou told PassBlue in a telephone interview from his village. “It is very difficult to make ends meet; we have nothing - we just need help.”
More than half of the inhabitants of Mougoudjougou have fled, leaving just under 1,000 people, including Abdou and his family, behind.
Tillabéri straddles Niger's border with Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso. The area has suffered cycles of droughts and floods, forcing residents like Abdou to depend on humanitarian aid. But this year, aid agencies operating in Niger and the rest of West Africa's Sahel region say they are desperately overwhelmed by the conflict in Ukraine. The region generally includes parts of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
"We need food, we are hungry"Last year, Abdou and his family survived on Red Cross food rations and whatever work they could find in the main principality of Ouallam. But the aid was not as plentiful as in previous years.
Development agencies working in the region and other troubled parts of the Sahel find themselves at an impasse, as pledges of funding were made in December 2021, without foreseeing the 50% increases in staple cereals such as millet and maize which have been amplified by Russia's war in Ukraine, a major global food exporter. Aid agencies, like the US-based Mercy Corps, which has operated in Niger since 2005, say they can only help locals like Abdou cope with the poor 2021 harvest and continuing insecurity. , but there is little they can do to cope with recent increases in food and fuel prices.
"When you want to implement a program like social cohesion and you go to the communities, they will say to you, 'We need food,'" said Siaka Millogo, Program Director of Mercy Corps for Niger and Burkina Faso, to PassBlue. . Millogo says people don't worry about insecurity but rather about hunger. "'We need food, we are hungry.' That's what they'll tell you."
In Sahelian countries like Niger, food supply is becoming increasingly difficult. Last year, imports of staples like millet flowed more freely, and war across the Mediterranean Sea in Europe sharply concentrated Russia and Ukraine's importance in the global food economy. .
"In 2021, the Russian Federation or Ukraine, or both, ranked among the world's top three exporters of wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed and rapeseed oil, sunflower and sunflower oil," the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said in a June post. "The Russian Federation also ranked as the world's largest exporter of nitrogen fertilizers, second supplier of potassium fertilizers and third largest exporter of phosphorus fertilizers."
The Russian invasion that began on February 24 and the subsequent blockade of Black Sea ports in Ukraine have hampered Ukrainian grain exports to countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as to countries from Africa and elsewhere. Western sanctions have made it more expensive to access Russian fertilizers used in agriculture. Difficult access to Russian gas as well as sanctions imposed on oil exports have made energy and fuel even more expensive, driving up the cost of transporting food.
"When you hit fuel, you hit everything," said Millogo of Mercy Corps. "This means that grain prices on the market have increased by 30 to 50 percent."
The United Nations and the government of Türkiye continue to negotiate negotiations with the warring parties to ensure that Ukrainian grain can leave the port of Odessa despite the naval blockade of...
When Kimba Abdou went to a local store a year ago to buy a 100-kilogram bag of millet, a staple cereal for Nigeriens, he parted with 20,000 West African francs, called CFA, or about $31. The last time he checked, the price had gone up by more than 50%: a bag was now $55.
The 57-year-old farmer and his family of seven sons, five daughters and two wives live in the village of Mougoudjougou, in the Tillabéri region of western Niger, which has been hard hit by attacks by the Islamic State militias. Now their community is being hit again, this time by rising gas and grain prices and international aid being diverted to the conflict in Ukraine.
“Four weeks ago, we were victims of an attack, which cost us three injuries who were admitted to hospital,” Abdou told PassBlue in a telephone interview from his village. “It is very difficult to make ends meet; we have nothing - we just need help.”
More than half of the inhabitants of Mougoudjougou have fled, leaving just under 1,000 people, including Abdou and his family, behind.
Tillabéri straddles Niger's border with Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso. The area has suffered cycles of droughts and floods, forcing residents like Abdou to depend on humanitarian aid. But this year, aid agencies operating in Niger and the rest of West Africa's Sahel region say they are desperately overwhelmed by the conflict in Ukraine. The region generally includes parts of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
"We need food, we are hungry"Last year, Abdou and his family survived on Red Cross food rations and whatever work they could find in the main principality of Ouallam. But the aid was not as plentiful as in previous years.
Development agencies working in the region and other troubled parts of the Sahel find themselves at an impasse, as pledges of funding were made in December 2021, without foreseeing the 50% increases in staple cereals such as millet and maize which have been amplified by Russia's war in Ukraine, a major global food exporter. Aid agencies, like the US-based Mercy Corps, which has operated in Niger since 2005, say they can only help locals like Abdou cope with the poor 2021 harvest and continuing insecurity. , but there is little they can do to cope with recent increases in food and fuel prices.
"When you want to implement a program like social cohesion and you go to the communities, they will say to you, 'We need food,'" said Siaka Millogo, Program Director of Mercy Corps for Niger and Burkina Faso, to PassBlue. . Millogo says people don't worry about insecurity but rather about hunger. "'We need food, we are hungry.' That's what they'll tell you."
In Sahelian countries like Niger, food supply is becoming increasingly difficult. Last year, imports of staples like millet flowed more freely, and war across the Mediterranean Sea in Europe sharply concentrated Russia and Ukraine's importance in the global food economy. .
"In 2021, the Russian Federation or Ukraine, or both, ranked among the world's top three exporters of wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed and rapeseed oil, sunflower and sunflower oil," the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said in a June post. "The Russian Federation also ranked as the world's largest exporter of nitrogen fertilizers, second supplier of potassium fertilizers and third largest exporter of phosphorus fertilizers."
The Russian invasion that began on February 24 and the subsequent blockade of Black Sea ports in Ukraine have hampered Ukrainian grain exports to countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as to countries from Africa and elsewhere. Western sanctions have made it more expensive to access Russian fertilizers used in agriculture. Difficult access to Russian gas as well as sanctions imposed on oil exports have made energy and fuel even more expensive, driving up the cost of transporting food.
"When you hit fuel, you hit everything," said Millogo of Mercy Corps. "This means that grain prices on the market have increased by 30 to 50 percent."
The United Nations and the government of Türkiye continue to negotiate negotiations with the warring parties to ensure that Ukrainian grain can leave the port of Odessa despite the naval blockade of...
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