Some 1.8m people were food insecure in the Sahelian belt as of June 2012. Food insecurity rates increased from 45per cent in December 2011 to 48per cent in June 2012, with very high food insecurity levels in Bahr-el-Ghazal, Guera, Kanem, Ouaddai and Sila where over half of houeholds are food insecure. According to the June 2012 SMART survey, Global Acute Malnutrition rates are above the critical threshold of 15 per cent in nine regions: Kanem (21.0 per cent), Wadi-Fira (21.3 per cent), Bahr-El-Gazal (21.4 per cent), Batha (24.9 per cent), Hadjer-Lamis (19.7 per cent),Salamat (21.9 per cent), Lac (15.5 per cent), Sila (16.3 per cent) and Ouaddaï (16,5 per cent). In other regions such as Guera (12.6 per cent) and Ndjamena (13.4 per cent) malnutrition rates are high and exceed the 10 per cent threshold.
The 2012/2013 agricultural season is characterized by heavy rainfall causing extensive flooding in the south. An interagency assessment mission is on-going in affected areas. The vegetative cycles of all crops are progressing as expected and harvests prospects should be relatively good. The harvesting of food products (groundnuts, maize, and yams) since August has improved the food security situation and induced a drop in grain prices (millet, sorghum, maize) in both the Sahelian belt (4-37 per cent drop) and the savannah (2-15 per cent decrease) markets.
With good harvest prospects, decreasing food prices, added to on-going responses, the food security and nutritional situation likely to improve over the next three months.
October 2012
