Chad faces devastating lean season, food crisis

YAOUNDE, Cameroon

Urgent action is needed to counter the devastating effects of lean season in Chad, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.

Lean season is the period between planting and harvesting when job opportunities are scarce and incomes plummet.

Every year, Chad confronts the lean season from June to September, a period when households have little or no food stocks.

“The number of food insecure people is expected to increase from nearly 4 million (March-May 2021) to 5.1 million from June to August 2021, when food is scarce before the next harvest," the WFP said.

"The overall situation is particularly alarming due to the decrease in crop production in the Sudanese region and low water resources in the Sahel and Sudanese zones, also impacting pasture availability."

In 2021, the WFP said, 24 administrative regions of the Central African country are in crisis phase, compared to 15 in 2020.

The March 2021 Cadre Harmonisé, a joint food security analysis released under the auspices of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel, estimates that more than 1.7 million people will be severely food insecure, while nearly 3.3 million will face difficulties to meet their daily eating needs.

About 165,410 people during the lean season will be facing emergency levels, the WFP warned.

Chad, a landlocked Sahelian country in Central Africa, has been struggling with security challenges associated with conflicts in bordering countries, as well as the impact of climate change for the past decade.