West Africa: Boom-bust cycle of hunger rolls on

Aid agencies are optimistic that harvests will be good in most of the Sahel this year, but warn there are pockets of failed crops, and that donor funds are still lacking for the projects that would nudge Africans away from their precarious dependence on foreign aid and erratic rainfall. “Following a good end to the rainy season in the Sahel, forecasts for cereal production for this year are optimistic, but there continue to be localised crop failures that contribute directly to high rates of malnutrition,” the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement on Monday.