West Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world. Climate, agricultural, health, market and conflict risks make the performance of the food system highly volatile, triggering more frequent and severe food crises. In 2020, some 16.7 million West Africans required immediate food assistance due to a non-typical combination of drought, poverty, high cereal prices, environmental degradation, displacement, poor trade integration and conflict.

In addition to a very slow increase in agricultural productivity, market imperfections (variation and volatility of commodity prices, localised food shortages) are one of the aggravating factors of food and nutritional insecurity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put additional pressure on the food system, increasing malnutrition and food insecurity among vulnerable populations. It has triggered health and economic crises that have reduced access to food, particularly among the urban poor.

In addition to its almost permanent nature, vulnerability in West Africa is characterised by inequality between social groups. Indeed, major inequalities persist between women and men in terms of access to resources likely to improve their living conditions through agriculture – in particular access to land and equipment, credit, markets and advisory and support services.

Faced with these facts, the region has made strong commitments to transform agriculture and strengthen the resilience of the food system, and is benefiting from funding from the World Bank and its partners to implement the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP).