That said, conditions for localized successes and failure of
cereal banks need to be better understood. A recent appraisal
of an IFAD project in Chad found that 64 percent of
cereal banks established between 2005 and 2007 remained
viable as compared to 80 percent in a similar project in Niger.
In both cases, the factors critical for sustainability appeared
to be year–to-year variability in harvests which required
food security “smoothing”; limited market integration making
it advantageous to save grain rather than monetize it;
membership of the more vulnerable who are most in need
of access to grain banks; and the strong role of women in
management, reinforced by the provision of management
and technical support. In emergency relief situations, cereal
banks can play a temporary role supplying food on favorable
terms, yet require significant resource investment. However,
social protection programs such as cash or food for work and
conditional (or unconditional) targeted cash transfers can be
more effective, depending on the development objective.