Food Crisis in West Africa

Sahel in West Africa is a long belt north of Africa, between Red Sea and Atlantic Ocean. It comprises of many countries, including Mali, some part of Mauritania, southern part of Algeria, Senegal, southern part of Sudan, etc. It has suffered from hunger and food crisis for many decades in which thousands of people have died due to malnutrition, due to droughts, conflicts, erratic rains, and pest infections damaging crops. UNICEF estimates that 1.5 million children in Niger alone are near to starvation. 


International complacency is the final nail in the coffin. It was hoped that intervention of rich countries with surplus food would save Sahel from upcoming crisis, which now seem very imminent. Millions of lives are at stake. "The damage control mechanism of WFP needs $789m and still in short of #361m to reach all crying destitutes," writes Zafar Haider Jappa in today's Business Recorder.