West Africa is facing its worst food security crisis in 10 years, with over 27 million people already suffering from hunger. An additional 11 million people could be pushed to hunger by June unless urgent action is taken according to an alert issued recently by 11 international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war are the main factors contributing to the exhaustion of communities’ coping mechanisms and contingency plans, leaving millions in urgent need of food.

Over the past decade, food crises have been increasing sharply across the West African region, including in Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mali and Nigeria. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of people in need of emergency food assistance nearly quadrupled, from 7 million to 27 million.

"Cereal production in some parts of the Sahel has dropped by about a third compared to last year. Family food supplies are running out. Drought, floods, conflict and the economic impacts of COVID-19 have forced millions of people off their land, pushing them to the brink," Assalama Dawalack Sidi, Oxfam's regional director for West and Central Africa, said.

The situation now is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to move to different communities and to live with host families who are already living in difficult conditions themselves. There is not enough food, let alone food that is nutritious enough for children. We must help them urgently because their health, their future and even their lives are at risk," Philippe Adapoe, Save the Children's director for West and Central Africa, said.

On the other hand, malnutrition is steadily increasing in the Sahel as the United Nations has estimated that 6.3 million children aged 6-59 months will be acutely malnourished this year – including more than 1.4 million children in the severe acute malnutrition phase – compared to 4.9 million acutely malnourished children in 2021.

Dramatic impact

In addition to conflict, insecurity, pockets of drought and poor rainfall distribution have reduced communities' food sources, especially in central Sahel and to make up for the gap, many families are selling their assets, jeopardizing their productive capacity. They are also risking the future of their children by forcing their young girls into early marriage, while other forms of gender-based violence is increasing dramatically.

"I had almost no milk left so I gave my baby other food. He often refused to take it and lost weight. In addition, he had diarrhea, which worsened his condition," said a mother who had to flee her village because of the violence in Burkina Faso.

"The rains were scarce. There is no more food. With the lack of grazing, the sheep are getting thinner and this forces us to sell them at a loss. I used to have 12 sheep, but now I only have one left," explained Ramata Sanfo, a herder from the country. "I would like to have my cattle back so that I have enough money and my children can go back to school."

As food reserves are dwindling in the Sahel, the crisis in Ukraine is making the situation dangerously worse. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, food prices could rise by another 20% worldwide, an unbearable increase for already fragile populations.

Besides, the crisis is likely to cause a significant decrease in wheat availability for six West African countries that import between 30% to 50% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine.

Supplies will be squeezed and prices will rise, including for fuel, which will make transporting food in the region even more expensive.

Another likely effect of the crisis in Europe is a sharp drop in international aid to Africa where many donors have already indicated that they may make cuts in their funding to Africa. Denmark was one of the countries that announced recently it will postpone part of its bilateral development assistance to Burkina Faso (50% in 2022) and to Mali (40% in 2022) to fund the reception of people who have fled their homes in Ukraine.

The African hunger crisis is one of the worst humanitarian crises on a global scale and, at the same time, one of the least funded. The redirecting of humanitarian budgets to the Ukrainian crisis also runs the risk of dangerously aggravating one crisis to respond to another.

On their part, humanitarian organizations are urging governments and donors not to repeat the failures of 2021, when only 48% of the humanitarian response plan in West Africa was funded; thus it urged the immediate closure of the $4 billion funding gap in the U.N. appeal for West Africa to save lives and ensure that these funds support age, gender and disability-sensitive interventions.

Rising food prices and hunger have historically led to social unrest in many parts of the world, and West Africa is no exception. It is impossible to imagine that there will be no political fallout from this crisis.

To get through the months ahead, a robust humanitarian response is vital. The U.S., the EU and all the international community need to resist donor fatigue and ensure that the multiple urgent crises around the world do not diminish the capacity to respond to appeals from multilateral organizations. They should at the same time provide direct assistance to people in desperate need.

Africans are suffering from the effects of a global problem that they had virtually no hand in creating. Major emitters have not upheld their responsibility to assist them in coping with these consequences to save their lives. Africans deserve to live decently, like other people in the world.