ReliefWeb

Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) is expanding its aid programme in the Sahel region, making half a million Euros more available. The money is among other things earmarked for hungry people in Burkina Faso, where the situation has deteriorated dramatically, similar to the neighbouring country of Niger.
"We have never had a drought like this before," says Oscar Sawadogo, head of German Agro Action's partner organisation in Burkina. "The price of the staple millet has tripled since last year, reaching record levels."

According to Sawadogo, 130,000 people living in two provinces of Burkina (Bam and Sanmatenga) north of the capital Ouagadougou have nothing left to eat. Even seed supplies have been consumed. Many of them have had to sell their livestock as well. The hungry people there are now living off of leaves and wild fruit.

Last year it only rained for two months. The swarms of locusts descending upon the area exacerbated the situation. The government of Burkina Faso has transported foodstuffs to the region, but it is only a "drop in the bucket," according to Sawadogo.

German Agro Action has been combating the structural causes of hunger in Burkina Faso just as in Mali. It is working together with its partner organisation "Zood Nooma" on projects such as erosion prevention, irrigation, improved cultivation methods and the construction of grain storage containers in 70 villages. As a result of crop failures last year, people here need food aid over the time period up until the next harvest in October to survive.

German Agro Action appeals for donations for victims of the famine in Sahel:

Account number: 1115
Sparkasse KölnBonn
Bank code number: 380 500 00
Keyword: Sahel