Publication: Anticipating Large and Widespread Seasonal Deprivation in the Sahel
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2021-11
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2022-07-20
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In addition to being regularly confronted with unpredictable shocks such as floods, droughts, or conflicts, Sahelian households have to deal with the effects of seasonality. This leads to a significant reduction in food and non-food consumption across the season, exposing the poor to transient food insecurity and malnutrition.
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“Lain, Jonathan; Brunelin, Stephanie; Tandon, Sharad. 2021. Anticipating Large and Widespread Seasonal Deprivation in the Sahel. SASPP Operational and Policy Notes Series;Note 3. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37725 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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Publication Seasonal Deprivation in the Sahel Is Large, Widespread, and Can Be Anticipated(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-08-08)Shocks and seasonality may have profound effects on poor households’ wellbeing, especially in contexts like the Sahel where livelihoods depend on rainfed agriculture and pastoralism. Understanding how seasonal variation affects Sahelian households is therefore essential for guiding policies that jointly seek to address chronic poverty, seasonality, and unexpected shocks. This paper uses harmonized household survey data from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, collected in two distinct waves in 2018 and 2019, to examine the extent of seasonal deprivation in the Sahel. These data reveal significant seasonal variation in poverty and wellbeing. Mean real monetary consumption is around 10.5 percent lower in the lean season. 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Although it is possible for food access metrics to be poorly aligned and capture different dimensions of poor food access, empirically supported assumptions in standard consumption models result in many dimensions of poor food access being concentrated among the poorest segments of the population. However, the paper demonstrates that the Food Insecurity Experience Scale does not appear to correctly identify the population with poor food access—it finds little difference in the share with poor food access among poor and nonpoor Nigerians. Moreover, even the very richest and very poorest households have a similar prevalence of poor food access, according to the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. These patterns are in stark contrast to the Food Consumption Score, which suggests that food access is significantly lower for poorer Nigerians. 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