Increase in prices is deteriorating household purchasing power

The number of incidents (116) and fatalities (376) increased particularly during the months of June compared to the previous months of the year due to continued incursions by jihadist groups. This leads to an increasing number of internally displaced persons whose cumulative at the end of June reached 1,312071, an increase of 58,655 compared to the previous month. Since July, incidents and killings have continued and the increase in the number of IDPs has been observed especially in the border towns of the north and north-east and in the eastern region.

After an early to normal set-up, the agricultural season is continuing satisfactorily with cumulative rainfall as of July 20 generally above average. Nevertheless, between mid-June and mid-July, dry sequences exceeding 10 days were recorded locally in the far north (Sahel and North regions) and in the west (Boucle du Mouhoun region) and have slowed down semi operations in these localities. Overall, crop development (at emergence stage) is similar to last year and normal. Just like the past season, the continuation of incidents and the displacement of populations limit agricultural activities and will negatively affect agricultural production, especially in the border provinces (Loroum, Soum, Oudalan, Yagha, Komondjari and Kompienga) and surrounding areas (Séno, Yatenga, Bam, Sanmatenga, Gourma).

Despite the presence of humanitarian assistance and the ongoing operation to sell cereals at a price subsidized by the government, the prices of basic cereals remain high compared to the five-year average (26% for maize, 10% for millet and 9% for sorghum). In livestock markets, prices for different species are also showing increases over the five-year average. The upward variations are particularly marked for rams and billy goats due to the increased demand during the Tabaski festival. Thus, on the markets of Dori and Djibo and compared to the five-year average, the price of the ram is up by 37 and 22% respectively and that of the goat by 62 and 66% respectively. However, IDPs and poor host households in agro-pastoral areas in the north of the country do not benefit from these prices because they have limited or even exhausted assets.

IDPs rely on humanitarian food assistance for the majority of their food needs. The majority of these IDPs live with host families and are forced to share their rations with host households. This leads some households restricting consumption of adults for the benefit of children or reducing the quantities or number of daily meals to one. In recipient areas, humanitarian assistance is alleviating the worsening prospects of acute food insecurity. However, it is likely that Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse will be experienced in areas inaccessible by assistance, especially border departments in the far north.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt imports. In urban areas, the atypical decrease by in merchant stocks of staple foods compared to the average leads to increases of 12 and 20 percent in the prices of rice and oil respectively compared to the average. Fish and meat prices are also experiencing increases of 17 percent each. Which negatively affects the purchasing power of households, particularly poor households.