Key messages:

• The 2012 growing season is favorable in the south, as planting peaks in May. In the north central, the season has started normally in May while in the extreme north the usual preseason rainfall is underway.
  
• Retail cereal prices in the extreme north are higher than last year and the five-year average due to high transportation costs, persistent civil insecurity, and poor 2011 production. In July/September, domestic trade between the north central and the extreme north will be further constrained by seasonal declines in cereal availability likely pushing market prices higher.
  
• The lean season is underway in the south in May where gari prices are unseasonably high. The agricultural lean season will begin in the north in July. Most poor households in the north central and the south are facing normal lean season food shortages.