Food Security Framework | Underlying Factors
In the Sahel
? Human and animal pressures on a relatively degraded ecosystem contribute to poor soils, which, combined with the small, non-mechanized scale of agricultural production, lead to low production covering only 4 months of food needs in an average year.
? The temporary migration of able-bodied men seasonally to major urban centers or for long periods to Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria is a common coping strategy in difficult years, such as that of 2009/10. These migrations lead to an oversupply of labor and reduce the daily wage. This hemorrhage of the local workforce leads to a reduced level of production in zones of origin.
? Sociocultural care practices and poor health systems help maintain a rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) structurally above the WHO's critical threshold of 15%, especially during the lean season. The Structural Vulnerability Survey in Chad (EVST), conducted between late April / early June 2009 (a year of pastoral crisis), showed WFH GAM rates of: 25.3% (Batha), 23.8% (Grand Kanem) 20.8% (Chari Baguirmi) 20.4% (Ouaddai), 19.9% (Lac)
? Market supply chains function poorly between June and September due to rains and floods blocking physical access to markets both for consumers and traders. Informal barriers to trade (irregular taxes), concerns about price ceilings, and trader speculation contribute to poor flow of domestic and cross-border trade.
? Seasonal and annual increases in prices of basic foodstuffs limit the access of poor households to food especially in the rainy season, when food stocks of poor households are exhausted, impassable roads increase transportation and food costs, and energy needs are at their peak for the field work.
? An embryonic economic fabric limits local diversity of food sources and income.
In areas hosting refugees and the internally displaced in the East:
? The population has more than doubled in the host communities of the East, an area that is already highly degraded. Strong competition between IDPs, refugees and host populations is common for access to natural resources (earth, water, firewood) and also to employment. This is reflected continually on the levels of production and income, while limiting the range and scope of the traditional survival strategies.