Key Message Update: Widespread acute food insecurity Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists due to high commodity prices and worsening insecurity at the beginning of the year

This Key Message Update covers January 2024. Widespread Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity persists nationally, with Emergency (IPC Phase 4) in Cité Soleil, against a background of socio-political unrest and worsening violence. Social unrest and insecurity rose considerably in both the capital and provincial towns amid repeated calls for the head of government's resignation, creating a climate of fear with consequences for schools, markets and fuel distribution outside the capital. Worsening insecurity keeps commodity prices above average through higher transaction costs, including illegal crossing fees paid by traders, and through the scarcity of staples caused by supply-chain disruption.

The report is explicit that macroeconomic improvement is not reaching food access: the gourde appreciated by more than 10 percent year-on-year against the US dollar and was stable month-on-month between December 2023 and January 2024, yet prices, particularly of imported products, remained high against both annual and five-year comparisons, with positive fluctuations close to 100 percent. Warehouse owners are hesitant to restock and hold prices high, and SHODECOSA, the city's main private warehouse, is closed after repeated looting.

Below-average rainfall with irregular distribution in December and January delayed the planting of winter crops (beans, maize), which struggled to reach maturity across most agroecological zones when harvests should have begun in January and peaked in February; the weak winter campaign may also affect the launch of the 2024 spring season.