Reference Date: 25-September-2023

Overall favourable weather conditions for 2023 maize crop

Seasonal rains started in July and allowed a timely planting of the 2023 maize crop, the only cereal crop grown in the country. Maize is mainly produced on the islands of Santiago and Fogo, which account for 65 and 25 percent, respectively, of the domestic output. Cumulative rainfall amounts since the start of the season have generally been average to above average, resulting in favourable moisture conditions for crop establishment and development. Harvesting is expected to take place between October and December.

Maize output rebounded in 2022 after five consecutive years of drought, which resulted in negligible production levels during that period.

Prices of cereals near or above their elevated year‑earlier levels

Retail prices of locally produced maize registered unseasonal increases of up to 10 percent during the post‑harvest period between October 2022 and February 2023, reflecting strong local demand. Prices followed mixed trends between March and August 2023, when they were near their elevated year‑earlier levels.

Retail prices of imported wheat flour and rice remained stable or fell slightly in recent months. In August 2023, prices of wheat flour were between 10 and 30 percent higher year‑on‑year, while prices of rice were near their year‑earlier values in most markets.

About 32 300 people acutely food insecure during 2023 lean season

According to the latest “Cadre Harmonisé” (CH) analysis, about 32 300 people were estimated to face acute food insecurity (CH Phase 3 [Crisis] and above) between June and August 2023, including nearly 1 300 people in CH Phase 4 (Emergency). The food security situation has improved if compared to the same period in 2022, when 46 100 people were estimated to be acutely food insecure. The improvement occurred especially in the island of Santiago, where the number of acutely food insecure people declined from 33 000 in 2022 to 15 800 in 2023, mostly due to the return to the pre‑drought level of maize production in 2022.

New CH estimates of the number of people facing acute food insecurity in the last quarter of 2023 are expected to be released by the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) in late November 2023.

Disclaimer: The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

This brief was prepared using the following data/tools:
FAO/GIEWS Country Cereal Balance Sheet (CCBS) https://www.fao.org/giews/data-tools/en/ .

FAO/GIEWS Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) Tool https://fpma.fao.org/ .

FAO/GIEWS Earth Observation for Crop Monitoring https://www.fao.org/giews/earthobservation/ .

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) https://www.ipcinfo.org/ .