## 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/selected-issues-papers/2025/english/sipea2025072.pdf) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/selected-issues-papers/2025/english/sipea2025072.pdf.md) - [Structured JSON version](/-/media/files/publications/selected-issues-papers/2025/english/sipea2025072.pdf.json) --- ### Context - Definition emphasizes availability, access, utilization, and stability. - Since 2019, food insecurity has significantly increased in WAEMU, especially in the Sahel. - Key historical and projected figures: - 12.5 million people in food insecurity during the 2022 lean season (Cadre Harmonisé categories 3, 4 and 5). - 2.8 million people in 2019 (3 percent of the population analyzed). - 9.8 million people in 2024 (7 percent of the population analyzed). - Country heterogeneity in 2024: - Niger: 13 percent of the population in food insecurity. - Burkina Faso: 12 percent of the population in food insecurity. - Senegal and Benin: 3 percent of the population in food insecurity. - Agricultural production and per capita availability: - Cereal outputs reached 32.6 million tons in the 2023/24 crop season. - This was a 2 percent year-on-year increase and a 6.8 percent increase over the five-year average. - Per capita cereal availability at 221 kg in 2023/24 declined 1 percent year on year and 2 percent over the five-year average. - Cadre Harmonisé projections from November 2024 indicate food insecurity will remain high in 2025. - Nutrition and consumption: - Acute malnutrition affects an estimated 16.7 million children under 5 years of age. - Chronic malnutrition (stunting) affected over 25 percent of children under five in 2022, with nearly half of the children in Niger. - In 2024, 63 million people (41 percent of the total population) had insufficient food consumption in WAEMU. - Range by country in 2024: 14 percent in Côte d’Ivoire to 76 percent in Niger. ### Drivers of Food Insecurity in WAEMU - Main drivers: conflicts, climate shocks, and affordability/access issues; the region is largely dependent on food imports. - Conflict, insecurity, and displacement: - Fatalities linked to security incidents reached close to 14,000 people in 2024. - 2023: Burkina Faso and Mali experienced escalations pushing populations into Catastrophe (CH Phase 5). - Insecurity spread into northern regions of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, causing cross-border displacement and disruptions to agriculture and trade. - Example: In Burkina Faso's Centre-Nord region, 30 percent of households have been displaced due to resource competition. - Climate shocks and disasters: - Rising temperatures and frequent climate disasters reduce agricultural production and availability of food and basic services. - 2024 floods and impacts: - Floods affected 3.5 million people across 14 countries in West and Central Africa (as of August 2024). - In Mali: over 1.6 million hectares of land reported as flooded, including nearly 500,000 hectares of cultivated land. - In Niger: 222 reported deaths, 200 people injured, 44,600 houses destroyed, more than 350,000 people turned homeless, 86 schools in urgent need of repair in worst-hit regions, destruction of over 5,500 hectares of farmland and significant crop losses. - Major river basins recorded higher rainfall than historical average: Gambia, Geba, Lake Chad, Mono, Niger, Queme, Senegal, Tana and Volta. - Affordability and access: - Food inflation reached 4.8 percent in WAEMU in 2024 on average. - Food prices were 36 percent higher in 2024 compared to 2015. - Cost of Diet (CoD) findings (January–July 2024 calorie-cost changes): - Benin and Niger: increased by 8 to 10 percent. - Burkina Faso: increased by 20 percent. - Togo: increased by up to 50 percent. - Nutritious food is on average 60 percent more expensive than energy-rich food. - Trade barriers and restrictions (as of November 2024) include: - Benin: restrictions on export of agricultural products (export levy), ban on maize export, border closure with Niger. - Burkina Faso: ban on export of cereals and cowpeas; ban on export of live cattle. - Mali: ban on export of cereals. - Niger: ban on export of cereals (except Burkina Faso and Mali); border closure with Benin. - Togo: restrictions (one-time export authorization and tax per authorization). - Export bans and conditional exports disrupt regional supply chains and undermine WAEMU free-trade objectives; limited exceptions exist (e.g., Niger permitting limited cereal exports to Burkina Faso and Mali). ### Policy Recommendations and Action Plan - Overarching goal: achieve sustainable food security in WAEMU and a unified regional framework aligned with ECOWAS and WAEMU priorities. - Priority objectives: - Achieve food sovereignty through reliable and affordable sources of healthy, nutritious food that are locally grown. - Strengthen governance and policy coherence for a unified response to food crises. - Increase resilience of food systems to shocks via sustainable agricultural practices and robust response mechanisms. - Address chronic vulnerabilities by integrating social protection and agriculture programs. - Build strong data systems to ensure evidence-based, targeted, and coordinated policies. - Action Plan approach: - Grouped into short, medium, and long-run food security targets (Box 3 referenced for details). - Actions prioritized within five categories, ordered by immediate impact and implementability. - Target audiences: national and regional authorities, in collaboration with partners; focus areas include coordinating and unifying food policies among ECOWAS, WAEMU, and CILSS; developing effective instruments for food policy implementation; leveraging partners’ operational capability. - Policy and Governance Reform — Objective: establish a robust policy framework for sustainable food systems and crisis response. - Key actions: - Enhance Governance and Coordination: harmonize policies and strategies with ECOWAS and CILSS to facilitate a unified regional response, improving governance and accountability. - Accelerate Development and Implementation of NRPs: develop and operationalize National Response Plans (NRPs) to address immediate crises, including mechanisms for stockpiling. ### Box 3 — Intermediate Targets for Food Security Short-Term - Fully operationalize and fund National Response Plans (NRPs) in all member states. - Remove trade barriers to facilitate regional food availability. - Replenish and scale up the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve to address immediate crises. - Operational emphasis: essential food supplies and ensuring rapid distribution during emergencies; leverage WAEMU financial capacity for coordination and monitoring of NRP implementation. - Align agriculture and social protection programs to better target vulnerable populations and address chronic food insecurity. - Promote free movement of food products by removing trade barriers and restrictions to facilitate regional trade. Medium-Term - Establish functional and sustainable Market Functionality Index across the region. - Promote adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices in at least 50 percent of vulnerable farming communities. - Increase national budget allocations to food security initiatives by 20 percent region-wide. - Enhance data collection and analysis, including improved accessibility and awareness of Systeme D'information Agricole Regional (SIAR) database and leveraging existing food security databases. - Strengthen social registries: disseminate best practices, mobilize resources, expand geographic coverage, and develop a comprehensive research, monitoring and evaluation plan for social protection programs. - Promote regional food security research on trade restrictions, climate variability, and demographic trends to inform targeted interventions. Long-Term - Achieve a 30 percent reduction in food insecurity prevalence in WAEMU by 2030. - Align agricultural production growth with population growth rates to ensure stable food availability. ### Data and Evidence-Based Planning - Objective: provide accurate, timely, and actionable data to guide policy decisions and prioritize interventions. - Key actions: - Enhance Data Collection and Analysis: strengthen systems for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating food security and nutrition data; improve accessibility and awareness of SIAR; leverage existing food security databases. - Strengthen social registries and develop a comprehensive targeting approach for expansion of geographic coverage. - Develop a comprehensive research, monitoring and evaluation plan to produce robust evidence on the impact of social protection programs. - Promote Regional Food Security Research: partner with stakeholders to study impacts of trade restrictions, climate variability, and demographic trends. ### Financing and Resource Mobilization - Objective: ensure sustainable and adequate funding for both emergency responses and long-term resilience-building efforts. - Key actions: - Increase National Budget Allocations: boost funding for NRPs to enhance readiness and response capacity during crises. - Explore Innovative Financing Strategies: leverage sovereign funds, scale up regional solidarity mechanisms, and engage private sector partnerships. - Optimize Resource Utilization: expedite use of financial and technical resources provided by institutions like BOAD to strengthen national food security initiatives. - Support for emergency financing: IMF “Food Shock Window” created to provide increased access under emergency financing instruments for countries with urgent balance of payments needs associated with acute food insecurity, rising costs of food and fertilizer imports, or substantial cereal export shortfalls. ### Resilient Food Systems and Agricultural Practices - Objective: build sustainable and climate-resilient food systems capable of meeting the growing needs of the region. - Key actions: - Invest in Sustainable Agricultural Practices: promote crop rotation, agroforestry, and climate-smart farming. - Strengthen Regional Food Reserves: enhance operational capacity of the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve and ensure timely replenishment. - Integrate Agricultural Development with Market Functionality: develop a customized Market Functionality Index to address systemic market inefficiencies and improve access to food. ### Community Engagement and Local Capacities - Objective: ensure interventions are culturally relevant, inclusive, and aligned with the needs of communities. - Key actions: - Engage Communities in Policy Implementation: mobilize local leaders to advocate for gender-sensitive policies, promote girls' education, and address harmful practices like child marriage. - Promote Awareness of Trade Regulations: popularize community regulations on the free movement of agricultural products to facilitate compliance and support regional trade. ### Annex I. Institutional Stakeholders for Food Security A. National Bodies - National early warning systems (Système d'Alerte Précoce – SAP) coordinate food security analysis, collect information on the food situation, and provide data for management of national food security stock and mitigation actions. - SAPs inform development of National Response Plans (NRP) and work closely with meteorological services, national statistics bureaus, and market information systems. - Institutional anchor for early warning systems varies; the Ministry of Agriculture typically serves as host institution. - Functional differences: In Sahelian countries, SAPs are relatively well-organized and functional; in coastal countries they are in early stages of development. - SAPs face significant budget cuts and deprioritization across countries. - National Food Security Councils (SE-CNSA) established as interministerial mechanisms for coordinating food security efforts. - National food reserves: pivotal role in response to food crises and organized in line with the ECOWAS food reserve’s defense lines. - Functions of national reserves: - Meeting Humanitarian Needs: governments draw on reserves to provide immediate assistance. - Stabilizing Food Prices: releasing stocks during shortages to control price volatility. - Solidarity Instrument: enabling support to neighboring countries. - Challenges for national reserves: - Inadequate Stock Levels: recommended volume is 5 percent of national annual cereal consumption; many reserves fall well below this threshold. - Storage Issues: poor management and absence of adequate storage facilities lead to significant post-harvest losses; in some countries, losses can exceed 20 percent of total reserves annually. - Management Inefficiencies: weak governance, insufficient technical capacity, and lack of transparency. - Financial Constraints: limited funding for procurement, maintenance, and modernization of storage. B. Regional Institutions - CILSS (Comité Permanent Inter-État de Lutte Contre la Sécheresse au Sahel) aggregates SAP-produced data through the Cadre Harmonisé and links with national SAPs. - High-Level Committee on Food Security of WAEMU uses consolidated information to develop and implement NRPs for the lean season. - Regional Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) coordinates among ECOWAS, CILSS, and WAEMU; WAEMU Commissioner of Agriculture co-chairs alongside ECOWAS and CILSS. C. Partners - Food Security Cluster (FSC), led by FAO and WFP, coordinates food security responses among governments, UN agencies, and NGOs to address availability, access, utilization, and stability during and after humanitarian crises. - IMF engagement: - Increased focus on food insecurity through inclusion of elements in conditionality of several IMF-supported programs in WAEMU. - IMF provides policy advice, capacity development, and financial support to help member countries tackle the food crisis and meet balance of payments needs associated with the global food shock. - Example: In the ECF to Burkina Faso approved in September 2023, a structural benchmark requires publication of audits of the implementation of cash transfer programs and all emergency food expenditure. *Source: sipea2025072 - 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security* ### 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security ______________________________________________ 11 ### 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security ### Context - Food insecurity definition emphasizes availability, access, utilization, and stability. - Since 2019, food insecurity has significantly increased in WAEMU, especially in the Sahel. - Key historical and projected figures: - 12.5 million people in food insecurity during the 2022 lean season (Cadre Harmonisé categories 3, 4 and 5). - 2.8 million people in 2019 (3 percent of the population analyzed). - 9.8 million people in 2024 (7 percent of the population analyzed). - Country heterogeneity in 2024: - Niger: 13 percent of the population in food insecurity. - Burkina Faso: 12 percent of the population in food insecurity. - Senegal and Benin: 3 percent of the population in food insecurity. - Agricultural production and per capita availability: - Cereal outputs reached 32.6 million tons in the 2023/24 crop season. - This was a 2 percent year-on-year increase and a 6.8 percent increase over the five-year average. - Per capita cereal availability at 221 kg in 2023/24 declined 1 percent year on year and 2 percent over the five-year average. - Cadre Harmonisé projections from November 2024 indicate food insecurity will remain high in 2025. - Nutrition and consumption: - Acute malnutrition affects an estimated 16.7 million children under 5 years of age. - Chronic malnutrition (stunting) affected over 25 percent of children under five in 2022, with nearly half of the children in Niger. - In 2024, 63 million people (41 percent of the total population) had insufficient food consumption in WAEMU. - Range by country in 2024: 14 percent in Côte d’Ivoire to 76 percent in Niger. ### Drivers of Food Insecurity in WAEMU - Summary of main drivers: conflicts, climate shocks, and affordability/access issues. The region is also largely dependent on food imports. - Conflict, insecurity, and displacement: - Fatalities linked to security incidents reached close to 14,000 people in 2024. - 2023: Burkina Faso and Mali experienced escalations pushing populations into Catastrophe (CH Phase 5). - Insecurity spread into northern regions of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, causing cross-border displacement and disruptions to agriculture and trade. - Example: In Burkina Faso's Centre-Nord region, 30 percent of households have been displaced due to resource competition. - Climate shocks and disasters: - Rising temperatures and frequent climate disasters reduce agricultural production and availability of food and basic services. - 2024 floods and impacts: - Floods affected 3.5 million people across 14 countries in West and Central Africa (as of August 2024). - In Mali: over 1.6 million hectares of land reported as flooded, including nearly 500,000 hectares of cultivated land. - In Niger: 222 reported deaths, 200 people injured, 44,600 houses destroyed, more than 350,000 people turned homeless, 86 schools in urgent need of repair in worst-hit regions, destruction of over 5,500 hectares of farmland and significant crop losses. - Major river basins recorded higher rainfall than historical average (Gambia, Geba, Lake Chad, Mono, Niger, Queme, Senegal, Tana and Volta). - Affordability and access: - Food inflation reached 4.8 percent in WAEMU in 2024 on average. - Food prices were 36 percent higher in 2024 compared to 2015. - Cost of Diet (CoD) findings (January–July 2024 calorie-cost changes): - Benin and Niger: increased by 8 to 10 percent. - Burkina Faso: increased by 20 percent. - Togo: increased by up to 50 percent. - Nutritious food is on average 60 percent more expensive than energy-rich food. - Trade barriers and restrictions (as of November 2024) include: - Benin: restrictions on export of agricultural products (export levy), ban on maize export, border closure with Niger. - Burkina Faso: ban on export of cereals and cowpeas; ban on export of live cattle. - Mali: ban on export of cereals. - Niger: ban on export of cereals (except Burkina Faso and Mali); border closure with Benin. - Togo: restrictions (one-time export authorization and tax per authorization). - Export bans and conditional exports disrupt regional supply chains and undermine WAEMU free-trade objectives; some limited exceptions exist (e.g., Niger permitting limited cereal exports to Burkina Faso and Mali). ### Policy Recommendations and Action Plan - Overarching goal: achieve sustainable food security in WAEMU and a unified regional framework aligned with ECOWAS and WAEMU priorities. - Priority objectives: - Achieve food sovereignty through reliable and affordable sources of healthy, nutritious food that are locally grown. - Strengthen governance and policy coherence for a unified response to food crises. - Increase resilience of food systems to shocks via sustainable agricultural practices and robust response mechanisms. - Address chronic vulnerabilities by integrating social protection and agriculture programs. - Build strong data systems to ensure evidence-based, targeted, and coordinated policies. - Action Plan approach: - Grouped into short, medium, and long-run food security targets (Box 3 referenced for details). - Actions prioritized within five categories, ordered by immediate impact and implementability. - Target audiences: national and regional authorities, in collaboration with partners; focus areas include coordinating and unifying food policies among ECOWAS, WAEMU, and CILSS; developing effective instruments for food policy implementation; leveraging partners’ operational capability. - Policy and Governance Reform — Objective: establish a robust policy framework for sustainable food systems and crisis response. - Key actions: - Enhance Governance and Coordination: harmonize policies and strategies with ECOWAS and CILSS to facilitate a unified regional response, improving governance and accountability. - Accelerate Development and Implementation of NRPs: develop and operationalize National Response Plans (NRPs) to address immediate crises, including mechanisms for stockpiling. *Source: sipea2025072 - 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security* ### Box 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security ### Box 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security ### Short-Term - Fully operationalize and fund National Response Plans (NRPs) in all member states. - Remove trade barriers to facilitate regional food availability. - Replenish and scale up the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve to address immediate crises. - Operational emphasis: essential food supplies and ensuring rapid distribution during emergencies; leverage WAEMU financial capacity for coordination and monitoring of NRP implementation. - Align agriculture and social protection programs to better target vulnerable populations and address chronic food insecurity. - Promote free movement of food products by removing trade barriers and restrictions to facilitate regional trade. ### Medium-Term - Establish functional and sustainable Market Functionality Index across the region. - Promote adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices in at least 50 percent of vulnerable farming communities. - Increase national budget allocations to food security initiatives by 20 percent region-wide. - Enhance data collection and analysis, including improved accessibility and awareness of Systeme D'information Agricole Regional (SIAR) database and leveraging existing food security databases. - Strengthen social registries: disseminate best practices, mobilize resources, expand geographic coverage, and develop a comprehensive research, monitoring and evaluation plan for social protection programs. - Promote regional food security research on trade restrictions, climate variability, and demographic trends to inform targeted interventions. ### Long-Term - Achieve a 30 percent reduction in food insecurity prevalence in WAEMU by 2030. - Align agricultural production growth with population growth rates to ensure stable food availability. ### Data and Evidence-Based Planning - Objective: To provide accurate, timely, and actionable data to guide policy decisions and prioritize interventions effectively. - Key actions: - Enhance Data Collection and Analysis: Strengthen systems for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating food security and nutrition data; improve accessibility and awareness of SIAR; leverage existing food security databases. - Strengthen social registries and develop a comprehensive targeting approach for expansion of geographic coverage. - Develop a comprehensive research, monitoring and evaluation plan to produce robust evidence on the impact of social protection programs. - Promote Regional Food Security Research: Partner with stakeholders to study impacts of trade restrictions, climate variability, and demographic trends. ### Financing and Resource Mobilization - Objective: To ensure sustainable and adequate funding for both emergency responses and long-term resilience-building efforts. - Key actions: - Increase National Budget Allocations: Boost funding for NRPs to enhance readiness and response capacity during crises. - Explore Innovative Financing Strategies: Leverage sovereign funds, scale up regional solidarity mechanisms, and engage private sector partnerships. - Optimize Resource Utilization: Expedite use of financial and technical resources provided by institutions like BOAD to strengthen national food security initiatives. - Support for emergency financing: IMF “Food Shock Window” created to provide increased access under emergency financing instruments for countries with urgent balance of payments needs associated with acute food insecurity, rising costs of food and fertilizer imports, or substantial cereal export shortfalls. ### Resilient Food Systems and Agricultural Practices - Objective: To build sustainable and climate-resilient food systems capable of meeting the growing needs of the region. - Key actions: - Invest in Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Promote crop rotation, agroforestry, and climate-smart farming. - Strengthen Regional Food Reserves: Enhance operational capacity of the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve and ensure timely replenishment. - Integrate Agricultural Development with Market Functionality: Develop a customized Market Functionality Index to address systemic market inefficiencies and improve access to food. ### Community Engagement and Local Capacities - Objective: To ensure interventions are culturally relevant, inclusive, and aligned with the needs of communities. - Key actions: - Engage Communities in Policy Implementation: Mobilize local leaders to advocate for gender-sensitive policies, promote girls' education, and address harmful practices like child marriage. - Promote Awareness of Trade Regulations: Popularize community regulations on the free movement of agricultural products to facilitate compliance and support regional trade. ### Annex I. Institutional Stakeholders for Food Security A. National Bodies - National early warning systems (Système d'Alerte Précoce – SAP) coordinate food security analysis, collect information on the food situation, and provide data for management of national food security stock and mitigation actions. - SAPs inform development of National Response Plans (NRP) and work closely with meteorological services, national statistics bureaus, and market information systems. - Institutional anchor for early warning systems varies; the Ministry of Agriculture typically serves as host institution. - Functional differences: In Sahelian countries, SAPs are relatively well-organized and functional; in coastal countries they are in early stages of development. - SAPs face significant budget cuts and deprioritization across countries. - National Food Security Councils (SE-CNSA) established as interministerial mechanisms for coordinating food security efforts. - National food reserves: pivotal role in response to food crises and organized in line with the ECOWAS food reserve’s defense lines. - Functions of national reserves: - Meeting Humanitarian Needs: governments draw on reserves to provide immediate assistance. - Stabilizing Food Prices: releasing stocks during shortages to control price volatility. - Solidarity Instrument: enabling support to neighboring countries. - Challenges for national reserves: - Inadequate Stock Levels: recommended volume is 5 percent of national annual cereal consumption; many reserves fall well below this threshold. - Storage Issues: poor management and absence of adequate storage facilities lead to significant post-harvest losses; in some countries, losses can exceed 20 percent of total reserves annually. - Management Inefficiencies: weak governance, insufficient technical capacity, and lack of transparency. - Financial Constraints: limited funding for procurement, maintenance, and modernization of storage. B. Regional Institutions - CILSS (Comité Permanent Inter-État de Lutte Contre la Sécheresse au Sahel) aggregates SAP-produced data through the Cadre Harmonisé and links with national SAPs. - High-Level Committee on Food Security of WAEMU uses consolidated information to develop and implement NRPs for the lean season. - Regional Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) coordinates among ECOWAS, CILSS, and WAEMU; WAEMU Commissioner of Agriculture co-chairs alongside ECOWAS and CILSS. C. Partners - Food Security Cluster (FSC), led by FAO and WFP, coordinates food security responses among governments, UN agencies, and NGOs to address availability, access, utilization, and stability during and after humanitarian crises. - IMF engagement: - Increased focus on food insecurity through inclusion of elements in conditionality of several IMF-supported programs in WAEMU. - IMF provides policy advice, capacity development, and financial support to help member countries tackle the food crisis and meet balance of payments needs associated with the global food shock. - Example: In the ECF to Burkina Faso approved in September 2023, a structural benchmark requires publication of audits of the implementation of cash transfer programs and all emergency food expenditure. *Source: Box 3. Intermediate Targets for Food Security (sipea2025072)* --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/selected-issues-papers/2025/english/sipea2025072.pdf_