The FAO’s July 2014 edition of ‘Crop prospects and food situation’ notes that cereals production in West Africa for 2013 was estimated at 55.1 million tonnes, similar to the production level attained in 2012 and some “10% above the average of the previous five years”. Performance was variable, however, with production in the Sahel down 12% compared to the good harvest of 2012. In contrast, cereals production in Nigeria was “estimated to have increased by 20 percent compared to the 2012 flood-affected output”.
In West Africa, overall production is forecast to increase by only 0.18% over the 2012–14 period. This masks a marginally improved production performance in 2014 (+0.5%) in 2014, but also masks the 2-year decline in production that has taken place in five of the six main cereals producing countries of the region.
While coarse grain prices have stabilised in recent months in both Sahelian and coastal states, conflict-related trade disruptions have led to higher prices (+33%) in some regions (including in Nigeria, where insecurity in the northern cereals producing zones has increased price instability). Sustained low harvests in some areas have also led to localised increases in prices.
For low-income food-deficit countries in both West Africa and Central Africa, higher levels of imports are projected in 2014 (some 15,098,000 tonnes compared to 14,537,000 tonnes in 2013).
Contact
Identification
Français
Site map
Site map
