Rains boost production, diseases spread; land, input access problems persist

As Chad’s rainy season continues, incidence of waterborne diseases are increasing among displaced people in Sudanese refugees camps, as well as at sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs), who have experienced several months of severe water shortages. While the rains bode well for displaced and host populations able to undertake some agricultural production this season, diseases are on the rise as people turn to surface water of questionable quality and humanitarian access becomes increasingly limited. Increases in waterborne diseases pose a public health threat and threaten the food security of affected populations, as infected populations cannot adequately utilize the food they consume nor work effectively in their fields at the start of the agricultural season, when large amounts of labor are required.

While rains will assist refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR), many of whom have planted crops as part of their transition to self reliance, they limit humanitarian and market access for the country’s more than 140,000 IDPs and vulnerable host populations who, because of insecurity, have not been able to access sufficient land or agricultural inputs for cultivation this season. Massive pre-positioning efforts – including special efforts to target IDPs for assistance under a 90-day plan – should cover the majority of these populations’ food needs through the June to September rainy season, though access to potable water and healthcare is likely to deteriorate further. In addition, those IDP and host populations unable to plant during this agricultural cycle will need continued food and non-food assistance until at least the end of the next harvest, in October 2008.

Thanks to an above-average 2006/07 harvest, food is largely available on most of Chad’s principle markets, though access remains difficult for vulnerable populations in areas affected by civil insecurity. For example, prices are higher than normal in Abéché, the main market town in Chad’s conflict-ridden eastern region, due in part to disruptions in trade caused by civil insecurity. In addition, coping strategies for vulnerable populations in eastern and southern Chad, who are facing the compounded effects of consecutive years of protracted crisis, are limited and do not generate sufficient revenues to access food and other basic needs, including seeds, as the agricultural and hunger seasons continue.

Food insecurity also persists in localized areas of Chad that are not directly affected by civil conflict. For example, flooding in Mayo Kebbi Est and Ouest, Mandoul and Moyen Chari at the end of last year’s agricultural season led to significant losses of cereals and cash crops and has elevated the food insecurity of these populations as hunger season sets in. In addition, in Kanem, a structurally deficit food production area, the 2006/07 harvest produced 40 percent less that the 2005/06 harvest.

Seasonal Calendar and Critical Events

FULL-SIZE IMAGE