Famine Early Warning Systems Network

Key Messages

• Since September, the availability of harvests has made it possible for households to replenish food stocks across all agricultural production zones. The provision of farming inputs for off-season crops, particularly horticultural seeds, and optimal filling of dams and water reservoirs continues to support good production prospects for the season and agricultural employment opportunities.

• The availability and good distribution of pastoral resources support satisfactory livestock conditions in pastoral and agro-pastoral belt areas. Due to favorable pastoral conditions, livestock prices, especially for sheep, continue to be higher than average in most markets. However, despite improvements in pastoral conditions this year, terms of trade for sheep to wheat remain unfavorable to pastoralists as a result of substantially higher prices for food products, including wheat. Poor household food consumption needs are being met with the availability of cereals from local agricultural production and lower food prices compared to imported products. alimentaires.  

• The flow of food products and cereal remains largely dependent on cross-border trade from Senegal and imports from the international market. Supply flows to markets in southern and urban areas are limited due to continued restrictions on dry grain exports from Mali. Prices of imported products are atypically high, rising sharply, and remain well above the national inflation rate (9.2 percent). Prices for wheat and manufactured goods are 22 and 35 percent, respectively, above the five-year average. The rise in these products is due to high international prices, and fuel price increases have been observed since last July. High fuel costs are further exacerbating consumer prices, as transporters have to travel long distances to deliver commodities from markets in the capital to the interior of the country via secondary roads due to road repairs and the degraded state of the road infrastructure following the torrential rains at the beginning of the year.

• Most households can easily meet their food needs by accessing stocks from the earlier harvest. However, households, particularly in urban areas and in the Centre-North agro-pastoral zone, remain Stressed (IPC Phase 2) due to the atypical increase in food products, which limits the overall access of poor households to food.