ABSTRACT

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in the Sahel region of West Africa, bordering desert areas to the north and areas of tropical rainforest to the south. In good years, annual rainfall in Burkina Faso varies from 1400 mm in the south to about 400 mm in the north. Burkina Faso has about seven million people, with an annual per capita GNP of $180. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Burkina Faso experienced severe drought from 1968 through 1972. During the later years of that drought, an estimated 150,000 people died from famine in the six affected countries of West Africa. Approximately 215,000 MT of food aid was provided to Burkina Faso in 1984 and 1985, more than 66 percent of it for emergency relief. The United States Agency for International Development provided 38 percent of this total; other major sources included the World Food Program and the European Economic Community.