Poor households face near-normal food insecurity conditions
KEY MESSAGES
Food consumption by very poor and poor households is currently relatively normal with most households consuming two to three meals per day. Household food stocks are expected to be sufficient to meet consumption needs for an additional three to five months, and income levels (both farm and nonfarm) are currently above the five year average. Minimal food insecurity (IPC Phase 1) is expected from now through June 2013.
December prices for staple cereals were at their lowest levels of the year and were, on average, down two to 14 percent compared to November. However compared to the five-year average, millet prices were up 36 percent, sorghum prices up 22 percent, and corn prices up 13 percent.
Even with an influx of an additional 2,000 refugees since the end of December, the situation of Burkina Faso's approximately 40,000 Malian refugees is considered manageable by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These refugees' assistance needs should be sufficiently meet by humanitarian assistance programming which were designed for a population of over 100,000 refugees back in August of last year.
