Insecurity and flood damage reduce access to food in central and northern regions

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Starting in October, food insecurity will seasonally improve due to the availability of harvests, although below-average in some areas, as well as foraged products and declining food prices. In Menaka, Emergency (IPC Phase 4) outcomes are expected to improve to Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and ongoing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes in the Liptako Gourma region will improve to Stressed (IPC Phase 2). Elsewhere in the country, households will experience Minimal (IPC Phase 1) outcomes starting in October. Flood victims, estimated at nearly 130,000 people, are expected to face Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes.
The persistence of insecurity in the northern and central regions, and even an extension westward into the Ségou and San regions, continues to cause population displacement. Livelihoods remain severely disrupted due to significant disruptions in economic activities, particularly in the inaccessible areas of the Menaka region, limiting households' ability to meet their food and non-food needs.
Heavy rainfall and flooding, including significant river flooding, are disrupting the current agropastoral season, resulting in substantial crop losses across nearly all regions, including production basins. As of September 15, 2024, 544,172 hectares of crops have been flooded, according to the FAO’s flood monitoring system. The reduction in cultivated areas due to insecurity, combined with losses from flooding, damage from pests, and difficulties accessing agricultural inputs (fertilizers, pesticides), will lead to a decline in agricultural production below the 5-year average. Average availability of green maize, legumes (cowpeas, peanuts, voandzou), early varieties of millet, and milk and dairy products, along with ongoing humanitarian assistance, is mitigating the agropastoral lean season across the country.
Household access to food is seasonally improving in the agricultural zones of the country due to the availability of green legumes (cowpea, peanut), maize harvests, and animal products. However, in the pastoral areas of the northern country facing insecurity, the price of staple goods has increased by over 30 percent compared to the average, particularly in the Menaka region (107 percent), Gao (76 percent), Tombouctou (34 percent), and Kidal (30 percent), significantly reduces poor households' access to markets.
According to OCHA, only an estimated 28.7 percent of humanitarian funding has been secured as of September 5, exacerbating problems of humanitarian access to households in need in the insecure areas of the central and northern regions. As a result, the level of assistance and even the number of beneficiaries has decreased during this period, even as flooding and population displacements in the Ségou and San regions have increased the number of people in need.

Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Mali Key Message Update September 2024: Insecurity and flood damage reduce access to food in central and northern regions, 2024.

This Key Message Update provides a high-level analysis of current acute food insecurity conditions and any changes to FEWS NET's latest projection of acute food insecurity outcomes in the specified geography. Learn more here.