Below average cereal prices means normal market access for poor households across the country

Average off season rice harvests continue in the Senegal River Valley, allowing for both improved income opportunities and food access for poor households engaged in agriculture labor. Expected harvests in June and July will improve rice availability and play a role in mitigating price increases for this period.

The pastoral lean season is underway across the country with the presence of migratory herds in their normal zones, concentrated in the groundnut production areas in the South. The average to above average availability of forage allows for average production and revenue for pastoral households to maintain market access. The expected start of the rains at the end of May will mark the return of herds to their normal winter pastures.

The supply of cereals remains sufficient on all of the major markets despite the usual seasonal decline of supplies related to the gradual depletion of household stocks.  Cereal prices remain more than 10 percent below average for millet and similarly reduced for rice thanks to good 2015/16 harvests. This allows for average market access for the majority of households. Consequently, most areas remain in Minimal (IPC Phase 1) food insecurity remains throughout the country.

Poor households in certain places in the Matam, Kanel, Raneyrou, Linguere, and Louga regions are experiencing an early depletion of their food stocks due to poor 2015/16 harvests.  Poor households are resorting to atypical coping strategies including labor and loans to meet their food needs.  These households will experience Stress (IPC Phase 2) levels of food insecurity until the new harvests arrive in October.