River floods put Senegal’s food security at risk

A flooding that hit the main farming region of Podor in eastern Senegal is threatening the country’s food security.

The flooding of the Senegal river destroyed farmlands in Podor, which supplies about 46% of the country’s onion needs and disrupted the ploughing and sowing season.

For more than a month, vast areas have remained drowned under the river’s waters, fed by intense rainfall – one of the effects of climate change in this arid land – and have exceeded rainfall season normal by 30%, according to the Institute for Research and Development.

The floods have affected nearly 200,000 people, depending on farming for their livelihoods, according to official figures.

The floods have destroyed some 16,000 hectares undermining in particular the cultivation of onion, okra, eggplant, bananas, corn, millet, tomatoes, and rice.

The World Bank has warned of climate risks to Senegal saying that without action, annual economic losses could reach 3–4% of GDP as soon as 2030 and further increase to 9.4% by 2050, wiping away years of per capita income growth and eroding any potential human capital accumulation.

Overall, climate change could push more than two million Senegalese into poverty by mid-century, the World Bank said in a recent report.