Torrential floods in West Africa hurt food security

Floods have destroyed harvest for this season, while nearly 1 million hectares of farmland across the region remain under water, with soil nutrients being washed away and setting the scene for an even worse crop production next season.

Prolonged drought last year, conflict in the Sahel region that has displaced nearly 8 million people, most of them farmers, the pandemic that had disrupted farming, and fallout from the Ukraine crisis which curbed fertilizer supplies to the region, meant crop output was going to be low.