Wheat and rice prices have risen by more than 50% in the West Africa and Sahel region. This is a concern for the representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Senegal and sub-regional coordinator for West Africa, Dr Robert Guëi.

Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria are the countries in which significant price increases of more than 50% compared to the average are observed according to Guei. For the Ivorian expert at the UN agency, “cereal prices and other foodstuffs, such as wheat and rice, remain high in the West Africa and Sahel regions.” He said that, at the global level, food prices have been trending downward for the sixth consecutive month.

Because of supply difficulties due to the disruption of supply chains as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the negative effect of the increase in the cost of local transport as a result of the increase in the cost of hydrocarbons in all countries of the region, fertilizer prices are rising.