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The survey also made it possible to determine the shocks which the populations had felt most in
2008, firstly, there was the drought for two thirds of the households, then the price increases for a
third of them, then hailstorms for 21.8% of them and plant diseases for 18.1%.
The households’ capacity to respond to shock is very limited and consists essentially in reducing the
quantity of food for each meal and in purchasing cheap food, for close to 90% of the household
which experienced a shock. Other possible responses have consisted in reducing the meals for adults
in order to preserve the meals for the younger persons (65%), in reducing the number of meals
(60.3%), in purchasing the food on credit basis (58.9%) or in borrowing money (52.2%).
Finally the Survey Report indicates that the main causes of food insecurity in the households are due
to the decline in agricultural productivity as a result of over-exploitation of the land and the forests,
of climate change and of erosion.
Other factors are said to be the small size of the farms, between 0.25 and 0.5 hectares on average,
the problem of preservation of the produce at the end of the harvest, the lack of productive assets,
the large proportion of inactive youth, the lack of transport infrastructure, the lack of information on
agricultural prices (inputs and production), natural disasters and the rise in food prices.
To address the challenges posed by the imperative need to improve food crop production and to
guarantee food security for the population, the Government acquired a National Agricultural
Strategy based on 4 objectives which are aimed at:
- The sustainable growth of productivity and agricultural production;
- The promotion of agribusiness industries;
- The support to the professionalization of the producers and the development of private
initiatives
and
- Building the capacities of management and development of the agricultural sector.
22.2. Tentative solutions to deal with the situation
Diverse programmes supported by the development partners have been initiated over several years
and pursued during the year 2008. The main activities realized in this respect constitute:
- The rehabilitation and development of the seed centres;
- The promotion of a strategic stock of fertilizers;