Connecting the Food Shortage Dots in Sub Saharan West Africa

The unprecedented food shortage in the Sahel and West African region can be attributed to various factors, which include climate-induced conditions, events of conflict, displacement and inflation.

According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the number of hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa has quadrupled over the last three years with current estimates hitting around 41 million.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, prices have surged between 30 and 50 per cent in many places – and even doubled in some markets. Russia and Ukraine make up top global exporters of maize, sunflowers and barley and account for around a third of global wheat exports. While African countries like Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan source more than 40% of their wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia, Nigeria, the fourth largest importer of wheat receives a quarter of its imports from Russia.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global food commodity markets, fuel supply chains and trade flows to Africa are being disrupted thereby increasing the already high food prices in the region.

Currently, local prices of wheat (per ton) in Sudan recorded an increase of 180% when compared to a similar period in 2021.

Furthermore, the National Bureau of Statistics’ Selected Food Price Watch report in Nigeria for July 2022, revealed that the average price of 1kg of beans rose on a year-on-year basis by 24.17%.

The report further showed that on a year-on-year basis, the average price of sliced bread (500g) increased by 31.80%, and wheat flour (2kg) also recorded a 35.23% increase.  

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is affecting global prices for food and fuel even as the Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) estimates at least 40 million people around the world will be pushed into extreme poverty. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) believes that the invasion has created a heightened risk of famine and malnutrition due to its impact on food security. The soaring costs of food and fuel prices are likely to exacerbate poverty.

In search of greener pastures, thousands of families are leaving their homes as the pressure on the already limited resources continues to heighten.

As of 2020, an estimated number of 7 million persons across 104 countries and territories were displaced by disasters. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) views this as a “highly conservative estimate,” as it does not capture those living in displacement because of disasters prior to 2020.

By the end of 2020, 40.5 million new internally displaced persons were recorded across 42 countries and territories because  of violence and conflicts, while 144 countries and territories were displaced due to disaster-related events.

Out of these new displacements, 30.7 million people, which constitute 76% were caused primarily by disasters while an estimated number of 9.8 million who make up 24% of the reported population were caused majorly by conflict and violence.

Countries in the Middle East or sub-Saharan Africa were the most likely to have large numbers of IDPs displaced due to conflict and violence.

Somalia and Ethiopia have  the largest number of disaster displacements respectively, even as heavy flooding and rains in Somalia continue to drive many into displacements.

While many youths in underserved communities migrate for economic reasons, including working in both the informal and formal sectors, women and their children face several challenges and risks, both during migration and following arrival in destination countries.

Migrant women from and within the sub region face several challenges and risks, from violence and sexual exploitation during migration journeys to unfavorable working conditions in refugee camps.

Extreme weather conditions and climate change, which are propelling displacements, are further affecting the livelihood of millions of people in the region while increasing stiff competition for natural resources.

As water points and pasturelands continue to dry up, rural and pastoralist communities in the region are witnessing the death of livestock and the loss of livelihood.

Aside from the socio-economic and environmental impacts of food shortages on refugees, so many of them also suffer from poor health and malnutrition.

According to the United Nations Children Emergency Fund, an approximated number of 45 million children under the age of five are suffering from low weight-for-height, a form of malnutrition that indicates severe weight loss as a result of not having enough food to eat or having an infectious disease that leads to so much weight loss.

Due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets, around 149 million children under the age of five are reported to have stunted growth and development.

Olga Oleinikova, a senior lecturer and director of the Social Impact Technologies and Democracy Research Hub (SITADHub) in the School of Communication at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, recommended that major NGOs and international financial institutions must quickly act to address the urgent humanitarian needs in response to the global consequences of the Russian invasion.

Although there is a high risk of famine and malnutrition as the food security situation continues to deteriorate, some efforts by major NGOs and international financial institutions have been made to quickly address the urgent humanitarian needs in some affected regions.

Food Bank: A Roadmap out of Food Shortage for Women and Children

Women, children and adolescents who constitute the most vulnerable population make up a large chunk of refugees in most parts of the world. 

By addressing local community food needs for women and children, even in less perilous times, food banks are well positioned to respond to food crises by ramping up in times of scarcity and dispensing food when conventional supply chains are disrupted.

Over time, food banks have primarily provided a long-term solution to addressing food insecurity. Across emerging and developing markets, food banks remain the first (or sometimes only) point of contact for those facing hunger.

Lisa Moon, President and CEOof Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), noted that food banks are early warning systems for emerging food crises as they offer a window into understanding the full extent of the coming food crisis, while also remaining a key solution in combating food insecurity.

Meanwhile, in the search of a roadmap to food shortage in Nigeria, the Lagos Food Bank Initiative (LFBI), a non-profit, private-driven initiative in Nigeria committed to fighting malnutrition and hunger, is providing food and nutritional assistance to pregnant women and their infants, students in public primary and secondary schools, and youths in underserved communities through a series of targeted programs.

Speaking on the motivation behind the initiative, Michael Sunbola, President and CEO of LFBI recalls his first-hand experience with food insecurity.

Growing up in Lagos, the food systems activist remembers how, to afford a day’s meal, he and his siblings carried planks of wood from the local sawmill and foraged fruits that had fallen from trees. There were also times when he would sell his blood to a local blood bank so he could buy food. “It was such an unpleasant experience,” he says of that time.

“This has been my drive, to be at the forefront of helping the most vulnerable families put food on the table, because I know what it feels like to not have that.”

Initially, the initiative started with the Temporary Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) where food and nutritional interventions were provided to vulnerable women and children across underserved communities to help fight starvation and hunger while addressing malnutrition across various communities.

Over 50,000 residents across 130 communities within and outside Lagos have benefited from the program, even as Sunbola explained other community projects under the initiative.

“Many people came to know the Lagos Food Bank through the TEFAP program, but that is not the only community project we offer. In fact, we have six community-based projects that are making positive impact across different far-to-reach and underserved communities,” he noted

One of these community projects is  the Education Enhancement Intervention for Food Insecure Students (EDUFOOD) that feeds children at low-cost primary schools three times a week. The program is meant to reduce the number of school dropouts due to food and nutritional factors and has reached out to over 3000 pupils across 21 schools.

The Lagos Food Bank Initiative also has the Nutritious Meal Plan Intervention for Vulnerable Mothers and Children (NUMEPLAN) as one of its community-based projects. Through this initiative, they partner with primary health centres (PHCs) across underserved communities to provide mothers and their babies with nutritious food relief and a diet plan.

Around 400 vulnerable mothers and babies across 30 PHCs have been reached in underserved communities, even as the food bank initiative has also provided job placements for the unemployed in indigent communities. The initiative also created the option of family farming for women in remote communities to grow their own food for commercial and consumption purposes and a community program for diabetic patients.

Navigating a complex and dynamic food chain and tackling food shortage will involve the mobilization of new systems and technologies, behavioral change, collective responsibility, public awareness and engagement.

By investing in new systems and technologies, farmers can connect with institutions and gain information that can help mitigate risk and reduce uncertainty.  Also, while building interventions to address food insecurity, policies should be tailored toward influencing a change in consumer behavioral patterns by raising awareness of healthy diets.

Although the food bank initiative has reached out to many vulnerable people in underserved communities, the initiative is also looking at expanding and engaging with other NGOs that are into the provision of food relief and hunger intervention across different communities within and outside Lagos.

“We figured that for more people to benefit from the hunger intervention program of the Lagos Food Bank Initiative, we had to collaborate with other NGOs that are within our niche to help make the project a success,” Subola explains.

“The most engaging part remains that these NGOs we are working with understand the terrains within the communities they operate; they know the people who are in dire need of these food relief(s). So they help us reach out to these vulnerable people, and the general aim is achieved. It’s a win-win for everyone.”