Chari-Baguirmi

Chari-Baguirmi is the agricultural heartland south of N'Djamena—a floodplain where the Chari River's seasonal rhythms have dictated settlement patterns for millennia. The 2024 floods tested this adaptation: approximately 3,900 people were affected as waters rose earlier than usual, destroying crops during the critical July sowing period for millet, sorghum, rice, and maize. Yet the region's long-term outlook shows resilience: excess cumulative rainfall restored pastoral conditions to better-than-2023 levels, and the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) projects Minimal (Phase 1) outcomes through May 2026—meaning basic food needs should be met. UNFPA provided support for pregnant women in flood-affected areas of Chari-Baguirmi alongside N'Djamena. The region embodies Chad's agricultural vulnerability: 80% of the national population depends on subsistence farming, making any climate disruption an immediate food security crisis. With 2.4 million Chadians food insecure as of November 2024 (up from 2 million in 2023), regions like Chari-Baguirmi represent both the problem and the solution—fertile when waters cooperate, devastated when they don't.