Impact of Hiv/Aids on Farming Systems in West Africa

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Farm Management and Production Economics Service (AGSP), Rome, Italy The UN estimates that by the year 2005 the HIV/AIDS epidemic will have caused a 20- 25% rise in death rates among people between the age of 15 and 49 - economically the most active age group - in the two West African countries of Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. Women are infected as frequently as men. The Ivory Coast is the country with the highest HIV prevalence in West Africa. While most of the studies and most of the interventions focus on high risk groups in urban centres, above figures seriously affect rural communities and agricultural production. It is against this background that AGSP has conducted several case studies on the impact of HIV/AIDS on farming systems and rural livelihoods in Africa. The results of a case study in Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast are discussed in the following?. In rural areas the epidemic affects labour supply and quality as far as knowledge and management skills are concerned The way in which rural households are affected differs between Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. It is a common phenomenon in Burkina Faso that emigrants who carry the disease return to their families after having been away for several years or even decades. Hence, the burden for the receiving family is twofold: Firstly it has to pick up with the costs of treatment, which can reach as much as 16% of the average GDP/capita per sick person, and secondly the family has to manage without the remittances this person used to send In more than half of the cases, the farm economy relied on such contributions. In consequence, available cash as well as savings are used, and assets such as livestock have to be sold As the treatment of affectedfamily members and the further spread of the disease also removes manpower, the farm activities are neglected and production decreases. The initial situation in the Ivory Coast is different. The HIV affected family members are usually part of the farms ’ labour force and often crucially important for farm management and production. As in Burkina, the overall costs for the treatment of sick persons are prohibitively high leading to a decrease in farm investments and input purchases. More efforts are made to treat men (15% of annual GDP/capita) than women (5o%). Finally in both countries a vicious circle is created characterised by a decrease in the farms ’ labour force and a reduction of the available farm budget, resulting in a decrease of subsistence- as well as cash- crop production. This further aggravates the nutritional deficiencies and thereby the working capacities of the farmers, affecting even more production and income. Besides general interventions aiming at increasing awareness among the farmers and combating the transmission of the virus, interventions that specifically address the situation in rural areas need to be developed In the first place these interventions must concentrate on strengthening development agents capabilities in identifying vulnerable groups and supporting their efforts to adapt their farming systems according to the smaller resource base. Furthermore interventions are needed to support women with credits and assistance for diversification offarm activities with special attention to subsistence production.