Strong demand continues to drive up cereal prices
KEY MESSAGES
Continual high demand from institutions, as well as from consumers and private entities, has driven February cereal prices (especially for millet) upwards to their highest levels in the past five years with prices at major markets anywhere from 14 to 40 percent above-average. However at this time, these unusually high prices are not severely curtailing household food access.
Currently, poor households are highly dependent on market purchases to meet their food needs. However, good food access and purchasing power are generally helping to keep food insecurity to a minimum due to the availability of cereal stocks for certain households and to incomes from wage labor and the sale of irrigated crops and livestock for others.
However, certain departments of Tillabéri will require humanitarian assistance from the government and its partners during the month of March to prevent food consumption gaps.