The activities proposed hereafter are still subject to the adoption of the financing decision ECHO/WWD/BUD/2013/01000
1 . CONTEXT
The 2012 food crisis left some 18 million people food insecure throughout Sahel and put more than 1 million children under 5 years at risk of severe acute malnutrition.
DG ECHO reacted early and massively to the crisis. A total of over 174 MEUR was allocated during the year to in response to the needs and DG ECHO remained in the forefront of efforts to encourage rapid mitigation action at country level to help the most vulnerable and to ensure pre-positioning and adequate pipelines of essential food and nutrition commodities.
Apart from the direct action to help those most in need, DG ECHO also encouraged highlevel attention on the urgent need to focus more on strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable populations in the Sahel. The rapidly shortening cycle of regular food crises was increasingly alarming with more and more of the most vulnerable falling quicker into crisis from the slightest extra shock. This has led to the launch of the AGIR Sahel initiative at a meeting in Brussels on 18 June 2012 chaired by Commissioners Georgieva and Piebalgs to provide a policy framework for action at national and regional level in the Sahel supported by humanitarian and development partners to put in place permanent and sustainable policies and programmes to strengthen resilience to future shocks.
In the context of prospects for 2013, while the rains so far give hope for an adequate 2012/2013 agricultural season, the scale and frequency of the extra shocks that have affected the most vulnerable households over recent years (3 major crises in a decade) mean that their resilience is at near zero level and that they will continue to require humanitarian assistance both to recover from the 2012 crisis and to build their coping mechanisms.
The poorest households in the Sahel already spend over 70% of daily revenue on food.
Between July and August 2012, millet prices continued to rise in the Sahel and price levels are far above their levels this time last year - Ouagadougou (+87%), Bamako (+107%), and Niamey (+72%). In Bamako, millet costs around USD 60 a bag – a recordlevel price, exceeding the peaks witnessed in 2005 and 2008. It is likely that prices will keep at high level considering the current global food price rise due to production shortages caused by drought in the US. Further increases in the cost of food will drive many of the most vulnerable into full crisis again with risk of severe malnutrition and population displacement. The resurgence of Desert Locusts in the region is also a threat to crops and pastures in some areas.