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September 01, 2005

Food crisis update from in Burkina Faso

* Herders hit the hardest
* Report from on the ground
* Gorom-Gorom
* Tear Fund and Christian Aid in Burkina

Herders hit the hardest
I have noticed that in the TV and other reports on the crisis in Niger, there were a lot of Fulani. The BBC notes that this is because those who depend on animals have been worst affected by the food crisis throughout the Sahel.

"Millet prices [per 100kg bag] have shot up from 10,000 CFA francs ($18) to 25,000 CFA francs ($45) and animal prices have collapsed. This double whammy has hit the Fulani herders of the region hard. They are fast running out of animals to sell. Herds of 300 have dwindled to 20, either dead from hunger, or sold for a pittance in the struggle to raise money for millet, the staple crop."

"Somebody has got to resolve the problem of mounting food prices and falling animal prices in the long term."

Report from on the ground
Steve writes from on the ground in Djibo in the north of Burkina. Over the last few weeks, there has been a gradual move there from suffering to hope, as the rains continue, and the first handfuls of food are taken in the lead-up to the harvest. It looks like this year the harvest should be good - if the locusts keep away.

Read about it here: "It is very difficult to measure hunger. If you come to Djibo and say 'Hands up if you're hungry', the whole town (including the mayor) will put their hands up. And it is true that everyone (except the mayor) is looking thin these days. When I returned last week from ten days in Ouagadougou, I did a double-take at how emaciated some of my friends had become."

And here: "Mawna Belko sighs. 'God be praised,' he says. 'If on the day the babbatti came last year you had told us that we would still be drinking tea in August, we would not have believed you.'

Babbatti.. The word has never been far from our lips since 27th September last year when the pink cloud came from the north. At first people thought it was an approaching dust storm, but then the cloud turned into millions of tiny dots, pink and flickering and strangely beautiful. The dots swarmed towards the fields and began to dive, and for an hour the air was thick with legs, wings and mandibles. The babbatti ate everything and left.

Now rainy season is here again, and the fields are again filled with ranks of almost-millet. Everyone knows how precious the crop is, and how precarious. One month to go, and then the millet can be harvested. A repeat of last year's locust invasion would be catastrophic."

And here: "Yesterday I started harvesting the corn in my back yard. All over Djibo people are doing the same - they are taking corn to each other as gifts and will eat it until the main millet harvest."

Gorom-Gorom
Gorom-Gorom is typically a bit behind the rest of the country, and seems to be still in need of some food aid through to the harvest in October.

I have not been able to contact the pastor there recently, but there was a problem with transporting the food aid up to Gorom because the roads were unpassable. As soon as I hear something more, I will post it here.

Tear Fund and Christian Aid in Burkina
Both Tear Fund and Christian Aid have been working in Burkina Faso through their partners there. As well as responding to the immediate needs of the food crisis, they are working on long-term development to improve food security, through cereal banks, personnel training for effective distribution, improved land use etc.

Tags: burkina faso africa aid burkina fulani food crisis

Posted by Keith at September 1, 2005 05:00 PM

Comments

Posted by: Paula at September 4, 2005 04:34 AM

Posted by: Keith at September 4, 2005 09:15 AM