Monthly Food Security Update for Chad: March 22, 2002 A joint report by FEWS NET and the National Nutritional Center for Nutrition and Food Technology (CNNTA) Summary In the context of food security monitoring, FEWS NET and the National Center for Nutrition and Food Technology (CNNTA) organized a small-scale anthropometric survey from February 27 through March 12 in the eastern Sahelian zone, visiting Rural Biltine, Arada, Kalait, Iriba, Guereda, Tiné and Bahai sub-prefectures. Preliminary results indicated that the rate of global acute malnutrition, calculated as a percent of the median, was less than 5 percent in about half of the survey villages (results from other villages are still expected). On the basis of these results, the overall food situation is considered good in the survey areas. Cereal availability and accessibility are good in most departments of the country. However, accessibility remains difficult for households in Borkou, Ennedi and Tibesti Departments (known as BET) in the far northern part of the country that do not produce cereals. These departments get their food supplies from neighboring Biltine and Ouaddai Departments. Nonetheless, transportation to and from the BET is difficult due to the rugged condition of desert roads. Current off-season farming activities include tending market gardens and harvesting produce, and harvesting berbéré (off-season, flood-irrigated sorghum) in the berbéré producing zones of Mayo Boneye, Mayo Dalla, Dar Sila and Salamat Departments where the crop harvests are reasonably good. Irrigated wheat in the modern sector polders of Lake Chad is nearing maturity while some wheat is already being harvested in the traditional polders. Cereal prices in Abéché were more stable throughout March than February, but prices rose in Sarh, Moundou and N’djamena. Due to their limited resources, low-income households and civil servants are having difficulties buying high-cost cereals. 1. Food Availability 1.1. Update on Off-Season Agriculture Most off-season agricultural activities at this time include tending and harvesting vegetable garden crops and harvesting berbéré (flood-irrigated sorghum) in the production zones of Mayo Boneye, Mayo Dalla, Dar Silla and Salamat Departments. The berbéré harvest that got underway last month in Salamat Department is still going on; according to all information sources, crops are good. Grain-eating birds, considered by farmers in the department as dangerous pests, appeared late. These birds have caused only localized damage and will have a negligible impact on yields. Irrigated wheat in the modern sector polders on Lake Chad is nearing maturity while irrigated wheat in the traditional polders is ready for harvest or being harvested. 1.2. Nutritional Monitoring in the Eastern Sahelian Zone 1.2.1. Results of a Nutrition Survey The joint FEWS NET/CNNTA mission has identified several factors that cause malnutrition in children of less than 5 years old in the eastern Sahelian zone. These factors include: a) poor breast-feeding; b) abrupt weaning; c) taboos on certain foods; d) limited education levels of mothers; e) the lack of elementary training for public health agents; f) inadequate anthropometrical equipment that prevent health facilities from monitoring children under 5 and detecting malnutrition. The survey used two-stage cluster sampling of children from 6-59 months old. The sample size was 110 children. The weight/height ratio, expressed as a percent of the median, was used to determine the rate of acute malnutrition; the presence of edema was also considered. The brachial tube circumference was also calculated. The rate of global acute malnutrition calculated as percentage of the median was about 5% in almost half of the villages surveyed (the result of other villages are still expected); this relatively low rate appears to corroborate the recent good harvest and cereal availability for children in farmer as well as agropastoral households in those localities. More detail information on this survey will be provided in the next FEWS NET Monthly Update. 1.2.2. Food Security Conditions Generally speaking, food security situation in the visited zones is good. According to the National Office for Rural Development (ONDR), Biltine Department produced a cereal surplus of 2,592 metric tons (MT). However, Biltine and Iriba Rural show production deficits (Table 1). Figure 1 shows that cereals are available in sufficient quantity in the ONDR subsector. However, market prices seem to be high compared to the purchasing power of low-income people. Table 1: Biltine Sub-Sector Cereals Balance, 2001/02 Sub- Population in Food needs in Cereal production Difference (in prefecture 2001 Cereals (in MT) in tons 2001/02 MT) Biltine 63,200 9,840 7,850 -1,630 Am-Zoer 34,540 5,181 6,480 +1,299 Guereda 70,215 10,532 18,725 +8,193 Arada 2,830 ,425 1,124 +699 Iriba Rural 42,858 6,429 460 -5,969 Total 213,643 32,047 34,639 +2,595 Source: ONDR/Biltine sub-sector The 5,969-MT deficit in Iriba Rural sub-prefecture is the highest, but given the composition of the population (mostly herders and some farmer-herders), good pastures and crop production in the neighboring sub-prefecture of Guereda, the deficit will be more or less covered by normal cereal flows. Guereda sub-prefecture, which is considered as structurally in deficit and has a pastoralist- dominated population, has an excess of 699 MT. According to the local ONDR office, the 2001/02 agricultural season was the best in 2 or 3 years. This good season was due to good rainfall (over 200 mm) and only minor localized damage caused by millet stalk borers. According to the Guereda ONDR sub-sector, the agricultural season was good and the population will be able to manage the hungry season easily. In addition to rainfed agriculture, a number of households have taken up market gardening. Others travel to neighboring Sudan to find temporary jobs. As the joint mission was going through Guereda, farmers continued to thresh their finger millet, another indication of a good agricultural season. In Am-Zoer, production was good, but the market demand for cereals by Biltine, Tiné (a village bordering Sudan) and Bahaï in Ennedi Department is likely to reduce supplies and affect the food security of the resident population during the hungry season. In spite of the Ministry of Interior’s decision to ban cereal exports, wholesalers and transporters routinely supply cereals to Tiné before transferring them to Sudan. This flow is sometimes halted, according to the administrative authorities in Tiné. The majority of the population has no other source of income but agriculture and has to sell part of the crop in order to satisfy its needs. 1.3. Pasture Conditions and Bush Fires The good rainfall of the 2001/02 season regenerated forage crops (especially grasses) in most of the country. However, sufficient water for animals is a problem in the Sahelian zone. This explains the involuntary migration of animals to areas of high cattle concentration. The FEWS NET/CNNTA joint mission was able to observe the gathering of groups of large and small ruminants around some livestock wells in some localities. In addition to water scarcity, there is the problem of bush fires, especially during the dry season. Those fires destroy large grasslands that constitute reserves of pasture for animals in hard times as well as goods belonging to farm households (houses, cattle and crops). The joint mission also witnessed a gigantic fire in Guéra Department (Mongo) on the night of March 11-12 around the Baro mountain administrative post 25 kilometers from Mongo. This fire caused the destruction of dried grass on several hectares of land, depriving cattle of food and forcing them to move elsewhere to find their means of sustenance. This on-the-spot observation has been confirmed by satellite images by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and by the Terra Satellite. The dots on Map 1 represent bush fires in Chad on March 11. Map 1: Satellite Image of Bush Fires in Chad: March 11, 2002 Source: Terra satellite/NASA: Bush fires in Chad on 03/11/02 In addition to the bush fire observed near Mongo, Figure 1 shows fires to the north-west of Melfi in Guéra Department, in western Bousso in Baguirmi Department and especially in the central and eastern part of the Sudanian zone (Barh Koh Department, southern Logon Oriental, near Kyabé in Lac Iro Department and Salamat Department). Bush fires are mainly observed along the border with the Central African Republic, where many Chadian herders are found in the dry season looking for pasture and water. The most frequent causes of this phenomenon, according to eye-witnesses, are: • Camp fires (near herders’ camps) that are not well extinguished by herders, hunters or other transhumants; • Fires meant to clear the land for agricultural purposes; • Arson (due to revenge or conflict between herders and farmers); • Fires due to negligence in the use of matches and cigarettes; • Fires used as means of hunting. In general, most bush fires are the result of human carelessness and maliciousness. The immediate consequences of bush fires are a slow but gradual destruction of the ecosystem. In order to fight against bush fires the best approach would be to sensitize public opinion to the damage caused by this scourge. Another approach would consist of establishing anti-bush fire committees in most of vulnerable departments, providing them with light fire-fighting equipment, as well as providing the water and forest fire brigades with adequate equipment such as radios and water tankers to extinguish fires. Both approaches complement each other and are necessary at the same time. 1.4. Livestock Conditions Livestock conditions were generally good in the zones visited by the joint FEWS NET/CNNTA mission.