The 2017-18 agro-pastoral campaign
Within the framework of the Food Crisis Prevention Framework (RPCA), CILSS and its partners organised a PREGEC regional technical consultation on 26-28 March 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to present the final results of the 2017-18 agro-pastoral campaign and discuss key findings from the Cadre harmonisé analysis. Cereal production in the region is estimated at 67.7 million tonnes, up by 2.5% and 11.7% compared to the 2016-17 campaign and the five-year average, respectively. However, cereal production has declined in some countries (Gambia: -29 %; Burkina Faso: -11%; Guinea-Bissau: -7%; and Chad: -5.5%). Cabo Verde has not recorded any agricultural production for this year due to a drought. The food and nutrition situation has deteriorated in parts of the Sahelian belt, which faces a difficult pastoral situation. Nearly 7.1 million people, mostly pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, currently face a crisis situation, especially in the Lake Chad basin, the Liptako-Gourma region and central Mali. The number of people in need of assistance could reach 10.6 million by June-August 2018, if appropriate measures are not taken in time. Participants recommended that governments accelerate the rapid implementation of national response plans to assist populations in food and nutrition crisis and emergency situations in Sahelian countries, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable groups - young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women. They also recommended taking rapid action to protect the livelihoods of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist populations under stress. Members of the Cadre harmonisé Steering Committee discussed the future of the Cadre harmonisé analysis, which has gradually emerged as an internationally-recognised reference. However, Sahelian and West African countries must still develop stronger ownership and in-house capacity to produce and collect quality data and ensure sustainable funding for the analysis. The PREGEC recommendations will feed into the forthcoming RPCA restricted meeting, scheduled for 16-18 April 2018 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris.
