CURRENT STATUS OF GUINEA BISSAU: A REVIEW OF RELEVANT STATISTICS

Compiled by Siphiwe Baleka, Founder,

Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America

Guinea-Bissau is one of the least developed countries in the world, ranking 178th out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index in 2019.

In 2021, the country was labeled the 27th most fragile nation in the world, according to the 2021 Fragile State Index (The Fund for Peace 2021).

Guinea Bissau is the 4th poorest country in the world with a 69.3% poverty rate, the highest extreme poverty rate of all countries in Western Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an additional economic decline of 1.4 percent in 2020, further stunting economic and human development.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

In 2019, GDP per capita purchasing power parity was 1,650 USD, ranked 174th out of 186 countries. Between 2000 and 2019 the country’s real GDP growth averaged 3.4 percent, below sub-Saharan African and West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries, which recorded growth averages of 4.5 and 4.4 percent in the same period (World Bank Group 2020b). 

Population is projected to rise from 1.9 million people in 2019 to 3.1 million by 2040.

Extreme poverty will rise to 1.8 million people in 2040.

An average economic growth of 9.2 percent (+6 percent above the historical average) or higher is required to stabilize absolute poverty in 2040 at the 2019 level. 

EMPLOYMENT

A recent UN country analysis suggests that over 75 percent of employment in Guinea-Bissau is in the informal sector, and IMF estimates that 40 percent of the economy is informal (UN Guinea-Bissau 2020; Medina, Jonelis, and Cangul 2017). 

Data from a Harmonized Living Conditions Survey in 2018 report that 52 percent of those working in the informal sector in Guinea-Bissau are considered poor, in contrast to only 25 percent in the formal sector (Ndoye 2020). The informal economy often generates little to no government revenues.

Agriculture comprises 69 percent of GDP, with over 90 percent derived from cashew nut exports that provide direct or indirect income to 85 percent of the population (Guinea-Bissau 2025: Strategic and Operational Plan for 2015–2020, Terra Ranka)

HEALTH

According to the Global Health Security Index 2019, Guinea-Bissau has the second most fragile health system in the world (Cameron, Nuzzo, and Bell 2019).

Despite its reliance on agriculture, the population suffers from high malnutrition and food insecurity rates, with 18.9 percent experiencing undernourishment (Baquedano et al. 2021).

Stunting in children under five was at 26.8 percent in 2019, and acute malnutrition (wasting) was 7.3 percent (United Nations Children’s Fund 2021; UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank Group 2020).

Infant mortality rates in 2017 were at 49 per 1,000 live births, the highest amongst all SIDS countries albeit ranked only the 10th highest in Western Africa. Malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrheal diseases are the leading causes of death among children (United Nations Children’s Fund 2021).

 Guinea-Bissau’s maternal mortality rates are also among the world’s highest (900 deaths per 100 thousand live births). Despite the scale of the problem, the government allocated less than 1 percent of its health budget to women’s and children’s health in 2013 (United Nations Integrated Peace Building Office in Guinea-Bissau and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 2017). 

The Global Health Security (GHS) Index is the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across the 195 countries that make up the States Parties to the International Health Regulations (IHR). According to the Global Health Security Index, Guinea Bissau ranks just 186th out of 195 countries.

INCOME INEQUALITY

Guinea-Bissau has one of the most unequal distributions of income, with a Gini coefcient of 0.51 in 2022 (ranked 1st among countries in Western Africa and 6th highest among small island developing states). 

Many households in Guinea-Bissau generally do not have a bank account or utilize bank services, with access to a bank account in 2013 below 1 percent of the population. 

In 2019, 27.9 percent of the population had access to electricity countrywide compared to only 10.2 percent in the rural areas of the country (50.2 percent in urban settings). These figures are far below the 2010 to 2018 average for WAEMU countries, which recorded 17 to 80 percent of access in urban settings and 20 percent in rural areas (World Bank Group 2020b). The availability and cost of electricity is concerning, with the average cost of electricity in Guinea-Bissau (USD 0.42/kWh) amongst the highest in sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank Group 2020a, World Bank Group 2020b).

Additionally, poor access to internet (only 10 percent of the population had access to internet in 2018) further diminishes the ability of businesses and individuals to benefit from the digital transformation (UN Guinea-Bissau 2020).

In 2020, only 24 percent of the nation had access to the highest standard of safely managed drinking water sources and 12 percent of households had access to safely managed sanitation (World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund 2020). 

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) data for the Total Population of Guinea Bissau.

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) data for the Urban Population of Guinea Bissau.

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) data for the Rural Population of Guinea Bissau.

EDUCATION

One-third of children between 6 and 11 years old have never attended school (Só et al. 2018; World Bank Group 2020b).

Much of the education workforce lacks the necessary knowledge and proper understanding of the materials covered by the national curriculum, while many schools lack adequate learning materials for students. In addition, teacher strikes are persistent in the country, negatively impacting students through constant school closures (World Bank Group 2020b).

GOVERNANCE

Out of the six main indicators used to assess the quality of governance by the World Bank in its Worldwide Governance Indicators analysis (where 0 percent corresponds to the lowest ranking, least effective, and 100 percent to the highest ranking, most effective) Guinea-Bissau consistently scores around the lowest of all countries. In 2019, Guinea-Bissau scored 6.2 percent for the Government E!ectiveness indicator, and 5.2 percent for Control of Corruption. For Rule of Law and Political Stability, it scored 7.6 and 24 percent (World Bank Group 2019).

According to the  Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) 2020 Country Report on Guinea Bissau:

“Public officeholders who benefit illegally from their positions are rarely held accountable by legal prosecution when they break the law and engage in corrupt practices. This concerns all the top government officials, including the president. Public contempt depends on relatedness and the reputation of the officeholder. As a rule, corrupt officials are widely perceived as getting away with their crimes without consequences. Usually, officeholders who break the law are dismissed, rather than prosecuted. Members of the government accused of corruption often return to official positions after an interim. Conflicts of interest and ethical misconduct are often not addressed.”

According to the United Nations Periodic Review in 2019, instability is reflected in the 2018 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, in which Guinea-Bissau ranks forty-second out of 54 African countries. It has fostered neither economic growth nor coherent social policies and has resulted in Guinea-Bissau being dependent on the international community for assistance in the economic, health and education sectors.

 DEMOCRAT NEWSPAPER  04/19/2023 - “The National Cell for the Processing of Financial Information (CENTIF-GB) revealed on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, that risk assessment data on the processes that were reviewed, both at the Public Ministry and at the Judiciary Police, indicate that Guinea-Bissau Bissau is losing a lot and that 85 billion and 853 million of State assets could be in the hands of others.

The revelations were made by the president of CENTIF, Justino Sá, at the opening of the three days of training (18, 19 and 20) on matters of financial investigation, accusations and convictions for crimes of money laundering and financing of terrorism, held at the National School of Administration (ENA), aimed at actors in the criminal chain.

Justino Sá explained that the seminar was held as part of the implementation of the recommendations of the mutual risk assessment report that Guinea-Bissau was subject to in 2020 and 2021, arguing that the CENTIF should equip the law enforcement staff with tools that allow them to fulfill and fully perform its functions.

Justino Sá asked the Attorney General of the Republic to transform the office for the fight against corruption and economic rights and adopt the principle of mobility of magistrates, being a very sensitive office, having defended the specialization of magistrates so that Guinea-Bissau be more sensitive to the phenomenon of the fight against corruption.

According to Justino Sá, the amounts referred to are those found in the processes that were investigated from 2013 to 2018, revealing that the country could have lost 100 billion CFA francs.

Faced with this situation, Justino warned magistrates that they have a very important role to play in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

He said that this situation should not only be a concern for the CENTIF, but also a national concern, especially for judges who have the mission to work for the credibility of justice.

The president of the CENTIF stressed that one of the shortcomings that the cell pointed out in the mutual evaluation was effectiveness, because “there was no conviction for the crime of money laundering and financing of terrorism in Guinea-Bissau, as well as the confiscation of assets of any corrupt people or traffickers.

In turn, the Attorney General of the Republic, Edmundo Mendes, said he hoped that the seminar would provide participants with the necessary tools to detect, investigate, prosecute and effectively condemn the actors of organized crime.”

By: Carolina Djemé

PUBLIC INVESTMENT

Public investment is almost entirely financed by external aid, with major donors including the UN System, the West African Development Bank, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank (World Bank Group 2016). More than 90 percent of the government’s health budget comes from international partners.

A continuation of historical trends will increase the human suffering and development burden in Guinea-Bissau.

THE IMPENDING FOOD SECURITY CRISIS COMING TO GUINE BISSAU

Globally around 24 billion tons of fertile soil and 27,000 bio-species are lost each year. Scientists are saying that by 2045, the planet will have 40% less food for 9.2 billion people and that there are only 40 to 60 harvests left before a critical global food shortage. According to the report Hunger in Guinea-Bissau: Causes and Prevention

“Food insecurity is the largest current concern for the Guinea-Bissau government. . . . Overall, 11% of Guinea-Bissau households are food insecure, though this figure spikes to as high as 51% in some areas. Food insecurity is the main cause of undernutrition, in addition to inadequate health services, poor water and sanitation, inadequate infant feeding practices and high illiteracy rates among women.

Most of the families in Guinea-Bissau that are involved in cereal farming, produce cereal for their own consumption. However, this is sometimes not enough to feed an entire family. Only 8% of families have enough cereal to cover their needs for one month and a half, with 48% having cereal stocks to cover just one month of food consumption. If the cereal that these families produce is ruined, more than half would not have anything to eat and would suffer from extreme food insecurity.

According to the Food and Nutrition Security Monitoring System, 28% of the population of Guinea-Bissau does not consume as many vitamins and nutrients as they need. Additionally, in 2019, Guinea-Bissau ranked 99th out of 117 in a study about countries with increased rates of food insecurity. This rank means that Guinea-Bissau has a severe problem with both hunger and malnutrition.”

PREVALENCE OF FOOD INSECURITY BY SECTOR IN GUINEA BISSAU

The Proteus Global Food Security Index ranks Guinea Bissau 148th out of 160 countries. Even though most families are involved in growing rice for their own consumption, only 48% have enough cereal stocks to cover just one month of food consumption, resulting in a dependence on imported food, including rice. In 2020, Guinea-Bissau imported $52.2M in rice, becoming the 86th largest importer of rice in the world. At the same year, rice was the 1st most imported product in Guinea Bissau. Guinea Bissau imports rice primarily from: Pakistan ($24.9M), China ($17.2M), India ($4.26M), Senegal ($3.77M), and United States ($726k).

https://wits.worldbank.org/CountrySnapshot/en/GNB/textview

WHAT THIS MEANS

During the COVID pandemic, Bissau-Guinean economist Aliu Soares Cassama stated, “Our economy has had a deficit in the trade balance for a long time. In other words, we import more and export less. We know that economic agents do not have purchasing power due to the total paralysis of the State, and this situation will further complicate the economic weakness that the country is experiencing.” Because of the global soil extinction crisis and the impending global food shortages, Guinea Bissau, for all the reasons indicated above, will be one of the most vulnerable countries on the planet for starvation if nothing is done now to increase the organic content of its soil and diversify agricultural production to domestic food consumption.

WHAT CAN BE DONE? #SAVESOIL

For any soil to be agriculturally potent, it must have a minimum organic content of 3 to 6%. The average soil organic content of the United States is 1.4%, for Europe 1.2%, for India 0.6% and for Africa 0.3%. No data on the organic content of Guinea Bissau’s soil has been recorded.

Due to the severity of soil extinction and the food crisis which will be devastating to the entire world, a global #savesoil campaign was launched. Save Soil is a global movement bringing together people and leaders to restore Soil Health by instituting national policies worldwide toward increasing the organic content in cultivable Soil. On March 21, Indian mystic Sadhguru embarked from London to India on a 100 day campaign, traveling more than 30,000 km to 26 countries by motorcycle in order to spread awareness and to mobilise 3 billion people to use their voice and give democratically elected leaders and governments a mandate to institute national policies toward increasing the organic content in cultivable soil. After just 28 days, 72 nations have signed policy agreements. Sadhguru was also the keynote speaker at the 15th session of Conference of Parties (COP), that convened in the Ivory Coast from May 9-20. It was organised by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Leaders from 170 countries attended, including a high-level opening segment, a Heads of States Summit, round tables and interactive dialogue sessions among ministers and other high-ranking officials.

Learn More about the Save Soil movement in Guinea Bissau

Siphiwe Baleka is working to spread awareness on the need to create a comprehensive soil testing program in Guinea Bissau. Because of the current status of Guinea Bissau as described above, you can understand why constant fundraising is needed to help solve the problems in Guinea Bissau. We are the only group of Afrodescendants of Guinea Bissau origin that have a presence on the ground here in Guinea Bissau. You can help us help make a difference in Guinea Bissau by contributing to the

Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society’s 2022 Development Campaign

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BBHAGSIA Founder Siphiwe Baleka Promoting the Global #savesoil movement in Guinea Bissau

Friday, May 5, 2022 - Bissau, Guinea Bissau

On Thursday, the Founder of the Balanta B’urassa History and Genealogy Society in America, Siphiwe Baleka, met with Lorenço Monteiro Carvalho de Abreu, Director General of Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa Agraria (INPA) and consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Guinea Bissau. Mr. Baleka discussed the #savesoil movement and Guinea Bissau’s participation in it and the upcoming 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP), being held in Côte d'Ivoire from 9 to 20 May, organized by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Leaders from 170 countries will attend, including a high-level opening segment, a Summit of Heads of State, roundtables and interactive dialogue sessions between ministers and other high-ranking officials on May 9-10, 2022.

According to Mr. Baleka,

“The #savesoil movement is probably the most important global movement happening at this moment. All over the world, global leaders in all spheres of work as well as tens of millions of people are involved in this 100 day project. Over seventy governments have signed agreements. I was concerned that no one in Guinea Bissau - neither the leaders, the NGOs, the media nor the people on social media we’re talking about it. So I decided to take responsibility and started posting about it on social media to all the Guinea Bissau Facebook groups, writing letters to the media, and now I’m meeting with people involved in agriculture and policy-making. Really, it’s everyone’s responsibility, I just took the lead to set the example.”

On Friday, May 6th, Mr. Baleka met with Mario Alfredo Mendonca, Director of Commerce and Promotion for the Cashew-LIFT Project. On January 29, 2020 the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, Tulinabo Salama Mushingi attended the launch of the USDA’s Food for Progress regional cashew value chain project, also called the Linking Infrastructure, Finance, and Farms to Cashews (LIFFT-Cashew). The program implementing a $38 million, six-year project in The Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau will enhance the regional cashew value chain to improve the trade of processed cashews in local and international markets. “Sixty-three percent of the funds for Guinea Bissau are earmarked for road construction,” Mr. Mendonca emphasized.

Besides learning some of the details of how the Cashew- Lift project works, Mr. Baleka also discussed the potential of certifying the soil content in f the land farmed by the cooperatives and becoming early adopters of a marketing program that would include “organic soil content” on product landing.

“With such labelling, and provided that the organic soil content reaches a minimum 3%, Guinea Bissau farmers could enjoy premium pricing from an increasingly ‘soil conscious’ international market,” said Baleka.

”To do this, it will be necessary to develop a comprehensive soil testing program specifically designed to help Guinea Bissau reach the 3% minimum that is being accepted as the critical standard globally”.

https://projectblue.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/Imported%20Publication%20Docs/Soil%20Organic%20Matter.pdf

Save Soil is a global movement bringing together people and leaders to restore Soil Health by instituting national policies worldwide toward increasing the organic content in cultivable Soil.

Why 3.5 billion people? 

In democracies, governments craft policies based on what the majority of people want. 3.5 billion people is 60% of the world’s voting population. 

For any soil to be agriculturally potent, it must have a minimum organic content of 3 to 6%

How much damage has already happened to soil? 

● 62% of India’s soil has an organic content of less than 0.5%. 

● The US has lost 50% of its topsoil. 

● In Europe, 75% of the soil has an organic content of less than 2% 

● Two thirds of Africa is well on track to losing its arable lands by 2030 

Worldwide: 52% of agricultural soils are already degraded - ELD initiative, 2015 

● By 2050, 90% of Earth's soil could be degraded - UNCCD, 2020 

Soil organic content:

United States 1.4%

Europe 1.2%

Indian 0.6%

Africa 0.3%

Guinea Bissau -?????

When we grow one ton of crop, it means that we have removed one ton of topsoil. What are the means to put it back? We were putting it back naturally when there were animals and trees on the farm because green litter from the trees and animal waste are the only ways to put back organic content into soil.

87% of the planet's life, including you, me, and a multitude of microbes, worms, birds, animals, and trees are living on approximately 39 inches of topsoil. That is the average topsoil that you have on the planet. But the level of degradation that has happened in the last 70 years is scary. The amount of biomass in the soil has come down by around 80% in the last 50 years.

What is keeping you alive is microbial life on all levels.

The human body contains trillions of microorganisms — outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about 1 to 3 percent of the body's mass (in a 200-pound adult, that's 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play a vital role in human health.

HMP researchers also reported that this plethora of microbes contribute more genes responsible for human survival than humans contribute. Where the human genome carries some 22,000 protein-coding genes, researchers estimate that the human microbiome contributes some 8 million unique protein-coding genes or 360 times more bacterial genes than human genes.

This bacterial genomic contribution is critical for human survival. Genes carried by bacteria in the gastro-intestinal tract, for example, allow humans to digest foods and absorb nutrients that otherwise would be unavailable.

Humans don't have all the enzymes we need to digest our own diet,” said Lita Proctor, Ph.D., NHGRI's HMP program manager. “Microbes in the gut break down many of the proteins, lipids and carbohydrates in our diet into nutrients that we can then absorb. Moreover, the microbes produce beneficial compounds, like vitamins and anti-inflammatories that our genome cannot produce.” Anti-inflammatories are compounds that regulate some of the immune system's response to disease, such as swelling.

Globally around 24 billion tons of fertile soil and 27,000 bio-species are lost each year

There are no trees. There is not enough organic activity in the soil to absorb the water. If the water had percolated down, the wells, ponds, and rivers would have water. Since rainwater is not retained, a drought is bound to happen after some time.

If it is in the right condition, soil can hold 800% more water than all the rivers put together. But as the organic value in the soil goes down, its ability to hold water also goes down.

India has about 160 million hectares of arable land, but nearly forty percent of this soil is labeled as distressed soil. That means in another twenty-five to thirty years’ time, we may not be able to grow the food that we need in this nation. When there is no water and food, the level of civil strife that will happen will demolish the nation in many different ways. People from those rural areas where water completely runs out are going to migrate in large numbers into urban centers. This is not far away. With no infrastructure, they will sit on the streets, but for how long? When there is no food and water, they will break into homes. I am not some kind of a doomsayer, but in the next eight to ten years, you will see these situations unless we do something drastic right now.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA BISSAU 

Globally around 24 billion tons of fertile soil and 27,000 bio-species are lost each year. 

Scientists are saying that by 2045, the planet will have 40% less food for 9.2 billion people and that there are only 40 to 60 harvests left before a critical global food shortage.

For any soil to be agriculturally potent, it must have a minimum organic content of 3 to 6%. The average soil organic content of the United States is 1.4%, for Europe 1.2%, for India 0.6% and for Africa 0.3%. I am unable to find any data on the organic content of Guinea Bissau’s soil.

Due to the severity of soil extinction and the food crisis which will be devastating to the entire world, a global #savesoil campaign was launched. On March 21, Indian mystic Sadhguru embarked from London to India on a 100 day campaign, traveling more than 30,000 km to 26 countries by motorcycle in order  to spread awareness and to mobilise 3 billion people to use their voice and give democratically elected leaders and governments a mandate to institute national policies toward increasing the organic content in cultivable soil. After just 28 days, 72 nations have signed policy agreements. 

I am now using my voice as a citizen of Guinea Bissau to make sure that Guinea Bissau participates in the global #savesoil campaign since the people of Guinea Bissau are among those who will suffer the most if nothing is done and will benefit the most if the correct actions and policies are taken now. 

Towards this end, the 15th session of Conference of Parties (COP), is convening in the Ivory Coast from May 9-20, organised by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Leaders from 170 countries will be attending, including a high-level opening segment, a Heads of States Summit, round tables and interactive dialogue sessions among ministers and other high-ranking officials on 9 and 10 May 2022.​

I am now asking the responsible leaders of Guinea Bissau to do the following:

  1. Identify the delegation that will be representing Guinea Bissau at the 15th COP in the Ivory Coast;

  2. Inform the population of the status of Guinea Bissau’s soil and especially its current organic content;

  3. Explain how people can get their soil tested for organic content.

  4. Make widely available the plan to increase the organic content of the soil to a minimum of 3%;

  5. Provide the current expenditure on soil conservation as well as the cost needed to achieve the minimum 3%;

  6. Create a Guinea Bissau Soil Content Task Force.

Respectfully, Siphiwe Baleka,

PLEASE SUPPORT MY WORK HERE IN GUINEA BISSAU

#savesoilguineabissau

#protegiterraguineabissau

#savesoil

#protegiterra

@sadhguru

@consciousplanetmovement

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