Atypical high cereal prices limit household food consumption

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Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes persist among poor households and displaced populations in Diffa, Tillabéry, northwest Tahoua, and southwest Maradi due to insecurity that disrupts sources of income and food, market functionality and drives up prices. Stressed (IPC Phase 2) is expected in agricultural and agropastoral areas, where high food prices limit the income of poor households to food purchases and prevent them from spending on non-food items. Due to average rainfall, watering and grazing conditions for animals have improved in pastoral areas, enabling them to regain weight and increase milk production. Households can access income and food, and they are in Minimal (IPC Phase 1).
The significant reduction in local and cross-border supply compared to the average due to insecurity on the typical trade routes and the continued closure of the border between Niger and Benin is accentuating the decline in market supplies and the rise in food prices. Prices for the main cereals are 57, 55, 48, and 46 percent higher for maize, sorghum, millet, and imported rice, respectively, compared to the five-year average. In pastoral areas, the onset of rain has improved pastures and water points, as well as the physical condition of the animals, resulting in higher livestock prices for livestock farmers.
The rains have become regular, with above-average precipitation in general, enabling the season to settle in definitively at the end of June and the beginning of July. The average coverage rate of agricultural villages with sowing is 95 percent in the first dekad of July 2024, compared with 90 percent in the same dekad of July 2023. According to the Multidisciplinary Working Group coordinated by the National Meteorological Department, despite the dry spells in June 2024, which resulted in planting losses, the rainy season is now firmly established in the Zinder, Maradi, and Dosso regions, where 100 percent of agricultural villages had completed planting by the first dekad of July. However, crop abandonment in the conflict-affected areas of Diffa, Tillabéry, and Tahoua has resulted in completion rates between 40 and 70 percent.
According to OCHA, as of July 2024, the National Response Plan to Food and Nutrition Insecurity funding level is 22.8 percent. This low funding, combined with humanitarian access constraints, limits food aid distribution to less than 15 percent of the target population and to food rations below the quantities required to cover needs.

Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Niger Key Message Update July 2024: Atypical high cereal prices limit household food consumption, 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.