Please note that prices for September 2024 are based on a three-week average instead of the standard monthly average. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) monitors price trends for staple foods in countries vulnerable to food insecurity. For each country and region covered by FEWS NET, the Price Bulletin provides a set of charts showing monthly prices for the current trading year for selected urban centers, and allowing the user to compare current trends both to five-year averages, which indicate seasonal trends, and to prices from the previous year.
West Africa can be divided into three agro-ecological zones or three commercial basins (western basins, central basin, eastern basin). Both are important for interpreting market behavior and dynamics.
The three main agro-ecological zones include the Sahelian zone, the Sudanese zone and the Coastal zone where production and consumption can be easily classified. (1) In the Sahel zone, millet constitutes the main food product grown and consumed, particularly in rural areas and increasingly by certain populations who have access to it in urban areas. Exceptions are made for Cape Verde where corn and rice are the most important products, Mauritania where wheat and sorghum and Senegal where rice constitutes staple foods. The main substitute products in the Sahel are sorghum, rice, and cassava flour (Gari), with the last two in times of crisis. (2) In the Sudanian zone (southern Chad, central Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, southern Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Serra Leone, Liberia) maize and sorghum constitute the main cereals consumed by the majority of the population. Next after rice and tubers, particularly cassava and yams. (3) In the coastal zone, with two rainy seasons, yam and corn constitute the main food products. They are supplemented by cowpea, which is a very significant source of protein.
The three commercial basins are simply known as the West, Central, and East basins. In addition to the movement from south to north of products, the flows of certain cereals also take place horizontally. (1) The Western basin includes Mauritania, Senegal, western Mali, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and Gambia where rice is most traded. (2) The central basin consists of Ivory Coast, central and eastern Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo where maize is generally traded. (3) The Eastern basin relates to Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Benin where millet is most frequently marketed. These three commercial basins are distinguished on the map above.
