Sahel and West African governments avoid surprises through seasonal monitoring | FAO

In 2011, several international organizations predicted severe food shortages that would affect food security in the Sahel. However, the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), which analyzed data collected by its satellite data center and agricultural data provided by countries, predicted something very different. CILSS believed that the amount of food produced was actually sufficient. Instead, the problem was “access,” meaning that people did not have enough money to buy the food that was available. CILSS’s predictions turned out to be correct. This is exactly what one would expect from an organization whose motto is jamais surpris, or “never be surprised.” CILSS was established by FAO in response to the prolonged drought in the Sahel that began in the late 1960s, and initially covered nine Sahel countries. Now, as a technical arm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), its remit has expanded to include coastal West African countries. CILSS always strives to ensure that its members are not surprised by changes in weather or market conditions that could affect their countries’ food security. FAO and CILSS have been collaborating for four decades, with FAO providing technical expertise and financial support. The CILSS Burkina Faso Secretariat was initially based at FAO headquarters in Rome. Today, CILSS is a permanent regional commission for drought control with a rigorous agenda that calls for analysis, prediction and action to mitigate the impacts of drought in its 17 West African and Sahel member countries.

Seasonal regional workshops ensure modern monitoring

CILSS is building its capacity to monitor food security in the region in real time, using technologies including advanced satellite and data management systems, and monitoring missions with technical partners in 17 countries each agricultural season. CILSS holds five regional workshops a year on “Prevention and Management of Food Crises”, where countries present and agree on crop assessments. All the information feeds into “cereal balances”, reports that CILSS prepares for each member country. These balances calculate national production, planned imports, and available food aid and food reserves, and compare them to consumption. At the end-of-year PREGEC workshops, CILSS brings together technical experts from the OECD and other partners, as well as FAO, in agronomy, statistics and early warning systems. The Network for the Prevention of Food Crises in the Sahel and West Africa (RPCA) looks at all the cereal balances and other data to determine what support, if any, countries may need in the next season, so that interventions can be taken quickly to prevent the situation from getting worse. FAO has strongly supported CILSS in developing its Cadre Harmonisé (Harmony Framework), a tool now being implemented at country level that complements the balance sheets with a standard classification of the current and projected food security situation across the region. The standard classification is based on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a tool developed by FAO that allows comparison of the severity of food insecurity across space and time.

CILSS training content helps improve regional drought resistance

Throughout the Sahel, food security is linked to drought resilience. CILSS has expanded from its initial work on soil and water conservation to a sophisticated information and data reporting system. CILSS constantly monitors the region, seeking ways to build drought resilience in a fragile ecosystem that provides livelihoods for millions of pastoralists and farmers. CILSS has a regional training centre in Niger where agronomists and technicians can continue their education. Known as AGRHYMET (for the agriculture, hydrology and meteorology courses taught there), the centre’s curriculum includes courses on natural resource management, climate change adaptation and plant protection, with equally important studies in information management and information systems. FAO supports CILSS in the coordination of pesticide control regulations through its Sahel Pesticide Committee, which serves as a clearinghouse for all pesticides in the Sahel. Today, CILSS is a strong, independent regional institution recognized for its ability to ensure there are no surprises. (Never been surprised!) This will affect the food security of its member countries.