Food security

68% of the Malian population is rural and relies on natural resources for its livelihood.Photo Credit : Diafara Traoré/ Oxfam

African states slash agriculture budgets amidst a worsening food crisis

Total amount of money spent on agriculture as a share of the total budget by 39 African countries plummeted 18 percent between 2019 and 2021, with over two thirds of them (26) spending under five percent of their annual budget on agriculture, says Oxfam.

Ramata is a herder in Burkina Faso. Because of the lack of rainfall, she has no food for her livestock.Credit photo: Gery Barbot/ Oxfam

West Africa faces its worst food crisis in ten years, with over 27 million people already suffering from hunger

An additional 11 million people could be pushed to hunger just over the next three months. West Africa is hit by its worst food crisis in a decade, with 27 million people going hungry. This number could rise to 38 million this June - a new historic level and already an increase by more than a third...

Idrissa Ouedraogo is a farmer in the central north region of Burkina Faso. Because of the lack of rainfall, his millet, maize and bean crops have dried up. Photo credit: Cissé Amadou/ Oxfam

Tough, urgent choices for African leaders as they launch “Year of Nutrition” to help millions of people facing hunger

African governments should boost funding for agriculture, address peace and security challenges, and do more to genuinely tackle inequality. African Union leaders face one of their most important summits (Feb 5-6) in launching a “year of nutrition” amid worsening levels of hunger and malnutrition...

Picture taken in a market in Bangassou. Credit : Adrienne Surprenant/ Oxfam

Mali: Alarming food crisis leaves 1.2 million hungry

The number of Malians facing hunger has increased nearly threefold in one year, warns a coalition of 22 humanitarian organisations working in the country. The triple impacts of rising insecurity, droughts and Covid-19 have plunged a record number of 1.2 million people into a food crisis in 2021.

Maiga Abdoulaye Belko, facilitator at the Association pour la Gestion de l'Environnement et le Développement (AGED). Credit : Cissé Amadou/ Oxfam

Our Partner's Corner : Entire Families Trapped Between Conflict and Hunger

Let's take a trip to Dori, in the northeast of Burkina Faso. Capital of the Sahel region, its population has exploded in recent years with the arrival of internally displaced people. In a never-ending atmosphere of civil insecurity, entire families have fled their homelands to seek refuge in Dori...

Although Kadidiatou is a milk producer, she can't fulfill the needs of her children. Credit: Géry Barbot/Oxfam

Pandemic of hunger in West Africa: historical thresholds reached

On this World Food Day, we alert on the unprecedented food and nutritional challenges that continue to face West Africa at the end of the lean season.

Drought in Mauritania. Credit: Sylvain Cherkaoui/Oxfam

The Carbon Inequality Era

Fight carbon emissions and inequalities.

Victoria Banks lutte pour la survie de sa famille au Libéria. Crédit : Zwannah Kimber

Covid-19 pandemic threatens years of efforts to recover from war in Liberia

Après des années de rétablissement suite à la guerre civile au Libéria, Victoria Banks pouvait enfin vivre de l'agriculture. Jusqu'à ce que la pandémie de COVID-19 frappe.

African Women's Day: the solutions of 7 West African organizations to 7 realities lived by women in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis

To mark African Women's Day on July 31st, seven West African organizations highlight the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women in West Africa and their realities, their thoughts and their solutions around 7 priority themes identified, by and for women in the region.