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Poverty & Hunger

Burkina Faso

In the early years of the 21st Century

Description: Description: Description: BurkinaFaso

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Burkina Faso in the early years of the 21st Century.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false.   No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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*** Extreme Weather ***

Burkina Faso is highly exposed to extreme weather and climate change impacts, most notably floods, droughts, strong winds and high variability in the duration of the rainy and dry seasons. In 2022, above-average rains and flooding have killed hundreds, displaced thousands, and decimated over one million hectares of cropland in Central Sahel countries including Burkina Faso.  Microsoft BING Copilot

World Bank Climate & Develoment Reports

G5 Sahel Region Country Climate and Development Report, World Bank Group, 1 July 2022

hdl.handle.net/10986/37620

[accessed 10 December 2024]

The five countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger (the G5) in the Sahel region of Africa are among the least developed countries in the world. The now regular and growing climate shocks are causing large losses in outputs, reducing human capital accumulation, and leading to potentially devastating ecological and economic tipping points in the region. This World Bank country climate development report (CCDR) has examined the most critical actions and policy changes needed to accelerate the region's economic recovery, sustainable and inclusive development, and adaptation to the impacts of climate change.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

The World Factbook – Burkina Faso

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA

www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/uv.html

[accessed 10 November 2020]

World Factbook website has moved to ---> www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burkina-faso/

[accessed 5 January 2021]

In 2016, the government adopted a new development strategy, set forth in the 2016-2020 National Plan for Economic and Social Development, that aims to reduce poverty, build human capital, and to satisfy basic needs.

GDP - per capita (PPP): $1,900 (2017 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 90%

industry & services: 10% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate: 77% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: 40.1% (2009 est.)

Maternal mortality rate: 320 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 52 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 62.7 years

Drinking water source: improved: total: 75.6% of population

Physicians density: 0.08 physicians/1,000 population (2017)

Sanitation facility access: improved: total: 46.9% of population

Electricity access: electrification - total population: 19.2% (2016)

The Borgen Project – Burkina Faso

borgenproject.org/category/burkina-faso/

[accessed 23 January 2021]

The Borgen Project works with U.S. leaders to utilize the United States’ platform behind efforts toward improving living conditions for the world’s poor.  It is an innovative, national campaign that is working to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy.  It believes that leaders of the most powerful nation on earth should be doing more to address global poverty. From ending segregation to providing women with the right to vote, nearly every wrong ever righted in history was achieved through advocacy. The Borgen Project addresses the big picture, operating at the political level advancing policies and programs that improve living conditions for those living on less than $1 per day.

~ Poverty Eradication In Burkina Faso Through Farming

borgenproject.org/poverty-eradication-in-burkina-faso/

~ Tackling Homelessness In Burkina Faso

borgenproject.org/homelessness-in-burkina-faso/

~ Improving Healthcare In Burkina Faso

borgenproject.org/healthcare-in-burkina-faso/

~ The Crisis Of Displacement In Burkina Faso

borgenproject.org/displacement-in-burkina-faso/

~ Education Development In Burkina Faso

borgenproject.org/education-development-in-burkina-faso/

Conflict, climate change, and COVID-19 drive extreme hunger

Oxfam, 9 July 2021

www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/conflict-climate-change-and-covid-19-drive-extreme-hunger/

[accessed 19 July 2021]

The effects of conflict, COVID-19, and climate change have intensified the global hunger crisis.

WEST AFRICAN SAHEL - DRIVERS OF HUNGER: CONFLICT -- The region encompassing Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal has seen a 67 percent increase in hunger since last year. Continued violence has forced 5.3 million people to flee their homes. Insecurity has cut off farmers from their agriculture. Last year, along with the economic impact of COVID-19, the climate crisis disrupted the agricultural season, limiting stocks and people’s livelihoods.

Hunger Hotspots - FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity - March to July 2021 outlook

Food and Agriculture Org of the UN FAO, World Food Program WFP, 2021

www.fightfoodcrises.net/fileadmin/user_upload/fightfoodcrises/doc/resources/Hunger-Hotspots-March-2021.pdf

[accessed 30 May 2021]

COUNTRIES WITH CATASTROPHIC SITUATIONS: FAMINE-LIKE CONDITIONS OR FACTORS LEADING TO A RISK OF FAMINE -- The November 2020 CH projections indicate that 2.7 million people will face high acute food insecurity (CH Phase 3 and 4) between June and August 2021, including over 250 000 people in Emergency (CH Phase 4), in particular in the province of Soum. Overall, Burkina Faso has experienced a sharp deterioration in food security over recent years, with people in high acute food insecurity (CH Phase 3 and above) increasing fourfold in one year, from around 700 000 people in the 2019 lean season to 3.3 million in the 2020 lean season.

Action Against Hunger - Burkina Faso

www.actionagainsthunger.org/countries/africa/burkina-faso

[accessed 21 March 2021]

Burkina Faso is a resource-poor, landlocked country whose struggling economy is heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture to support a massively expanding population amidst successive waves of floods and droughts. Beyond being confronted with rapid urbanization, widespread inflation, cholera outbreaks, and an AIDS pandemic, the country has also been buffeted by the regional food shortages and drought experienced across the Sahel, with low rainfall devastating agricultural yields and sending staple food prices skyrocketing by between 30-100%.

Food shortages and high prices have caused hunger for large segments of society, with reduced yields stretched to feed a growing local population and the thousands of refugees and returning residents fleeing instability in neighboring Mali. The prospects are troubling, as the country faces recurrent climate shocks, stagnating agricultural yields, poor access to markets and inputs, and widespread soil erosion.

Looking back a few years …

Advameg, Inc., Encyclopedia of the Nations

www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Burkina-Faso-ECONOMY.html

[accessed 23 January 2021]

Burkina Faso remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Agriculture accounts for about 35% of the GDP and employs about 90% of the labor force.

In 1999, the World Bank agreed to implement a five-year structural adjustment program of $53 million, and in 2000, it approved an interest-free $45 million Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC) for the country, to help it carry out poverty-reduction policies and programs.

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