Food insecure population increases as household stocks deplete and poor incomes limit market purchases
Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are FEWS NET remote monitoring countries. In remote monitoring, a coordinator typically works from a nearby regional office. Relying on partners for data, the coordinator uses scenario development to conduct analysis and produce monthly reports. As less data may be available, remote monitoring reports may have less detail than those from countries with FEWS NET offices.
Key Messages
Although off-season cropping and the start of land preparation activities are providing many rural households with a certain level of food and income in March 2015, household incomes from most typical sources remain below average due to the impacts of the economic downturn on household livelihoods. Weak purchasing power is expected to be the key driver of acute food insecurity across the region between March and June 2015.
Anti-Ebola measures in Sierra Leone, such as curfews, market closures, are resulting in greater disruptions to livelihoods and market functioning in Sierra Leone compared to Guinea and Liberia. In worst-affected areas, Crisis (IPC Phase 3) is expected for poor and very poor households by June 2015. In other areas of Sierra Leone, along with worst-affected zones of Guinea and Liberia, Stressed (IPC Phase 2) levels of food insecurity are expected.
A Household Economy Approach (HEA) analysis conducted for Grand Gedeh County in Liberia indicates that while total annual incomes are down for all wealth groups compared to the reference year (2009/10), they should still be sufficient to enable households to cover their food needs and protect their livelihoods. However, as households are not expected to be able to fully smooth their consumption across the entire year, Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes are still expected for very poor households during this county’s lean season (April to July 2015).