The 2008 rice crisis: shock and new challenges

West Africa currently imports 5.2 million tonnes of rice, compared with 1.7 million tonnes in the early 1990s, and is only able to cover 60% of its needs despite possessing considerable rice-growing potential. The region will nevertheless for the foreseeable future remain dependent on an international market in which prices are structurally rising and which is increasingly volatile. This paper analyses the crisis of 2008, new trends and policy responses to address new challenges in the rice sector. It is based on a study carried out between May and December 2010 by CILSS, CIRAD, FAO, FEWS NET and the WF

Crise rizicole de 2008 : chocs et nouveaux enjeux

L'Afrique de l'Ouest importe 5,2 millions de tonnes de riz contre 1,7 au début des années 1990 et ne couvre que 60 % de ses besoins malgré des potentiels de production considérables. La région restera durablement tributaire d'un marché international structurellement haussier et de plus en plus volatile. Cette note analyse la crise de 2008, les tendances et réponses politiques face aux nouveaux défis du secteur rizicole. Elle se base sur l'étude réalisée entre mai et décembre 2010 par le CILSS, le CIRAD, la FAO, FEWS NET et le PA

Disaggregated Analysis: The Key to Understanding Wellbeing in Kenya in the Context of Food Price Volatility

This article provides a national?level picture of food security and wellbeing in Kenya, focusing on the situation before the 2008 food price crisis, and the period after 2008. The extent and impact of food price changes differ spatially, and households have different ways of trying to respond. The major food price shocks in 2008 and 2011 impacted negatively on wellbeing, but even after 2011 prices continued to rise in most areas. Seasonal price movements also have adverse effects for resource?poor households. Food price rises have a particularly negative impact on the poorest households. Urban slum dwellers are vulnerable given their dependence on market purchases to meet food needs, but most rural households also have high dependence on market purchases. Current social protection programmes are piecemeal and unreliable. The article concludes with proposals on more effective social protection approaches and agricultural programmes which can address problems linked to food price rises

Haiti - Food security outlook

This report analyzes the food insecurity crisis within Haiti

A Nutrition-Sensitive Agroecology Intervention in Rural Tanzania Increases Children's Dietary Diversity and Household Food Security But Does Not Change Child Anthropometry: Results from a Cluster-Randomized Trial.

This research article published by Oxford University Press, 2021Background There are urgent calls for the transformation of agriculture and food systems to address human and planetary health issues. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture and agroecology promise interconnected solutions to these challenges, but evidence of their impact has been limited. Objectives In a cluster-randomized trial (NCT02761876), we examined whether a nutrition-sensitive agroecology intervention in rural Tanzania could improve children's dietary diversity. Secondary outcomes were food insecurity and child anthropometry. We also posited that such an intervention would improve sustainable agricultural practices (e.g., agrobiodiversity, intercropping), women's empowerment (e.g., participation in decision making, time use), and women's well-being (e.g., dietary diversity, depression). Methods Food-insecure smallholder farmers with children aged <1 y from 20 villages in Singida, Tanzania, were invited to participate. Villages were paired and publicly randomized; control villages received the intervention after 2 y. One man and 1 woman “mentor farmer” were elected from each intervention village to lead their peers in agroecological learning on topics including legume intensification, nutrition, and women's empowerment. Impact was estimated using longitudinal difference-in-differences fixed-effects regression analyses. Results A total of 591 households (intervention: n = 296; control: n = 295) were enrolled; 90.0% were retained to study end. After 2 growing seasons, the intervention improved children's dietary diversity score by 0.57 food groups (out of 7; P < 0.01), and the percentage of children achieving minimum dietary diversity (≥4 food groups) increased by 9.9 percentage points during the postharvest season. The intervention significantly reduced household food insecurity but had no significant impact on child anthropometry. The intervention also improved a range of sustainable agriculture, women's empowerment, and women's well-being outcomes. Conclusions The magnitude of the intervention's impacts was similar to or larger than that of other nutrition-sensitive interventions that provided more substantial inputs but were not agroecologically focused. These data suggest the untapped potential for nutrition-sensitive agroecological approaches to achieve human health while promoting sustainable agricultural practices

NDVI - eaststm01-03

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the MODIS collection 5 (C5) data (see S1 Text for explanation). Average NDVI values in East Africa in the time span 2001-2010. Data are composed by 72 ten-day overlapping periods (composites), which were distributed in twelve files (eaststm_XX). Here: eaststm01, eaststm02, eaststm0

NDVI - eaststm04-06

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the MODIS collection 5 (C5) data (see S1 Text for explanation). Average NDVI values in East Africa in the time span 2001-2010. Data are composed by 72 ten-day overlapping periods (composites), which were distributed in twelve files (eaststm_XX). Here: eaststm04, eaststm05, eaststm0

NDVI - eaststm10-12

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the MODIS collection 5 (C5) data (see S1 Text for explanation). Average NDVI values in East Africa in the time span 2001-2010. Data are composed by 72 ten-day overlapping periods (composites), which were distributed in twelve files (eaststm_XX). Here: eaststm10, eaststm11, eaststm1