ALERT LEVEL: NO ALERT MONTHLY FOOD SECURITY UPDATE WATCH WARNING JANUARY 2006 EMERGENCY

CONTENTS SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS Summary and implications...... 1 Seasonal calendar ...... 1 In light of expected agropastoral output, the nationwide food situation should not Current hazard summary ...... 1 engender any major food problems during the coming year. Food security conditions...... 1 Markets ...... 2 However, grain supplies on markets around the country tightened considerably this past month. Annex: Brush fires ...... 3 Conditions in certain localized areas, particularly in forest grazing areas, will require relief measures to protect the food security of local residents. SEASONAL CALENDAR

CURRENT HAZARD SUMMARY

• The start-up of the marketing season for groundnut crops disrupted grain availability and grain transfers in large areas of the country. • Brush fires continue to destroy pasturelands. These fires have been moving southward and eastward, a prime destination for migratory animal herds. (See annex) • On the whole, the steady downward trend in prices since October continues despite across-the-board reductions in inventories. FOOD SECURITY CONDITIONS A close examination of the food situation in light of expected agropastoral output shows most households country facing no major food problems during the coming year.

Four months after the end of the growing season, in general, the economic and food situation of poor and middle- income households in all parts of the country is good. However, the interplay of certain seasonal factors with pernicious effects associated with this time of year could undermine the household food situation, particularly in stock-raising areas in the northern part of the country. Such factors include brush fires, the dwindling of household food reserves, the drying up of seasonal lakes and ponds and the depletion of natural forage and grasses used to feed livestock.

The incomes of rural households in general and of herders and their families in particular improved over the course of this past month thanks to large cash inflows from sales of animals to meet demand associated with the celebration of Tabaski (the Muslim Feast of the Sheep). The gathering of wild plants (gum arabic, monkey bread/the fruit of the baobab tree) and vegetable farming activities are beginning to generate income although, right now, earnings are still rather meager. Households in coastal areas and high out-migration areas are still seeing an adequate flow of income from cash remittances and fishing activities.

FEWS NET/Senegal Tel : +221 820 18 60 Address : BP29955 Aéroport FEWS NET is funded by the US Agency for International Development Fax : + 221 820 18 65 L.S.Senghor Code Postal 14542 www.fews.net E-mail: [email protected] Dakar Senegal

SENEGAL: MONTHLY FOOD SECURITY UPDATE January 2006

MARKETS

After two months of good market supplies, there Figure 1: Trends in average retail prices for millet on markets in was a sharp drop in the level of trader inventories regional capitals since June of 2003 (Price in CFAF/kg) between December and January on all domestic markets, in rural as well as urban areas. January DAKAR KOLDA KAOLACK LOUGA SAINT-LOUIS TAMBA ZIGUINCHOR FATICK inventories on all markets monitored by the Food 275

Security Commission (CSA) were down 66 percent 250 from December, from 1,623 to 556 metric tons. 225 The Louga market reported the largest plunge in inventories, or 80 percent. This tightening of 200 market supplies is a result of the start-up of the 175 marketing season for groundnut crops during 150 Prix (FCFA/Kg) Prix which the threshing of grain crops in general and 125 millet crops in particular is suspended, with all efforts concentrated on the marketing of groundnut 100 crops and the sale of small animals, the two main 75 sources of household income at this time of year, 50 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 _ _ _ _ I_0 _ _ _0 which coincide with the celebration of Tabaski. The N_ T_0 T L A L_04 T L AI L_05 T_05 T_05 UIL UT AN_ EV_04 UIN_ UI OV_04 AN_05EV_05 UIN_ UI P C AN_ JUI J EP OC NOV_03DEC_0J F M J J OC N DEC_04J F M J J O NOV_05DEC_0J upshot has been a slowdown in grain transfers to AO S MARS_0AVRI AOUT_04SEPT_04 MARS_0AVRI AOUT_0SE northern markets. Source: CSA/SIM /FEWS NET (Food Security Commission, Market Information System, FEWS NET) However, this tightening of market supplies and slowdown in transfers has not affected the across- the-board downward trend in prices on grain Figure 2: Trends in average retail prices for millet on rural markets since October of 2005 (Price in CFAF/kg) markets around the country since the end of the growing season (Figure 1). OCT05 NOV05 DEC05 JAN06 300 After initially heading downwards, prices on the 250 and Ziguinchor markets, both of which are urban markets, ended up rising during 200 this past month, with prices in Tambacounda reportedly up 17 percent from December. The 150 initial upswing in prices in Fatick stalled, with prices tumbling from 154 to 120 CFAF/kg between 100

December and January, while prices in Dakar, (FCFA/kg) au détail du mil Prix

Diourbel and Kaolack showed little change during 50 the same period. 0 BAMBEY GOUILLE MPAL OUROSSOGUI PASSY POROKHANE There has been a steady downward trend in retail MBEUTH prices on all rural markets, with the exception of Ourossogui, in the . The price of Source: CSA/SIM /FEWS NET millet in Passy stands at 90 CFAF/kg, on par with its January 2004 price and the five-year average for 2001-05 (Figure 2).

Seasonal price swings are following the same pattern as in past years. In general, prices begin moving downwards in September with the arrival of early crops on local markets. This downward trend continues until May, which marks the beginning of the lean period characterized by the depletion of household food reserves and commercial inventories, triggering an upswing in prices.

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SENEGAL: MONTHLY FOOD SECURITY UPDATE January 2006

ANNEX: BRUSH FIRES

There was somewhat of a December lull in brush fires throughout northern (the Saint-Louis, Louga and Matam regions) and central Senegal, after major outbreaks in October and November.

Apparently, the measures taken by the Map 1: Status of brush fires as of December 31, 2005 Environmental Protection Ministry have paid off. It had focused on deploying fire-fighting equipment and new recruits to areas reporting the first brush fires of the season. These new recruits have obviously conducted a major consciousness-raising campaign and led a good fight against spreading brush fires.

There has been a string of minor fires across the central-eastern part of the country. Only Maka Yop (20,200 hectares), Koussanar (4,400 hectares) and Malème Hoddar (4,200 hectares) districts have been spared.

The level of dryness of combustible materials is following a north-south gradient roughly equivalent to the path of the fire front. Source: Ecological Monitoring Center (CSE) Thus, there are reports of major outbreaks of fires in the , burning 153,000 hectares of land in , another 69,200 hectares in Tambacounda department and more than 53,000 hectares in Bakel.

This past month, fires scorched 3 percent of the entire Tambacounda region. The districts suffering the most damage were Saraya (82,100 hectares), Bandafassi (53,800 hectares) and Missirah (41,500 hectares). One explanation for this state of affairs lies in the proximity of Niokolo Koba National Park, where national park rangers start burning parklands early in the season as a preventive measure to mitigate the effects and ramifications of possible late-season fires.

The fire front is beginning to establish itself in southern Senegal and, specifically in the , where some 17,600 hectares of land have already burned. The is still virtually unscathed. But continued vigilance is an absolute must in these parts of the country, where new outbreaks of fires are to be expected over the next few months.

Deployments of human and physical resources will need to follow the progress and path of the fire front to better manage and mitigate the effects of brush fires throughout the countryside.

The size of the areas burned by these brush fires, particularly in the Tambacounda region, means heavy losses of pasture in one of the country’s destinations of choice for migratory animal herds. With the arrival of livestock herds from the northern part of the country, this is expected to heighten the risk of fighting and overgrazing.

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