New famine looms over the Sahel

Rising food prices in Sahel, Cameroon has 12 million people under the threat of hunger and famine. The World Food Programme (WFP) has issued a warning to officials that at least 40,000 tons of food need to be rushed to the region by the end of March to stave off disaster.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON (Catholic Online) - Cameroon is home to 20 million people and most of them, including those living in urban areas, are facing some degree of food insecurity. A drought, which has persisted through 2011 destroyed most of last year's harvest and caused rapid inflation in food prices. 

Many people can no longer afford to feed their families regular meals.

The drought has affected all the countries across the Sahel, the region between the Sahara and savannahs southern Sudan. Rural populations have suffered hunger since early February and now urban populations are beginning to experience severe food shortages. 

The next harvest is still six months away.

Ilonga Lazare, director of Food Security in the North Region at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said "Cereal production fell by 30,000 tons in 2011, compared to 2010." He added, "In the Logone and Shari Division, there wasn't a drop of rain last year and in other parts of the North and Far North Region, slender rains came only in early October. So crops did not have enough water to grow."

The Minister called for the immediate importation of emergency food aid saying, "For now, we need to target vulnerable groups like children who cannot stand famine for over a day." He also said some of the food aid was needed for pregnant women. 

Beyond children and pregnant women however, an entire population of 400,000 people in Cameroon alone will need some degree of food assistance. 

In urban areas, some people are spending at least a third of their incomes on food staples. 

For its part, the government of Cameroon has pledged to boost investment in agriculture in an effort to modernize and improve farming methods across the country. However, for the hundreds of thousands of people already facing hunger, this may be too little, too late.

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