The
Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) report by the Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) stated that late rains and erratic
weather patterns in Somalia have raised concerns over a worsening of the
food security situation, as food stocks from the last harvest have
become depleted and prices continue to rise sharply.
The situation was being exacerbated by conflict and inadequate funding for priority actions designed to address the needs of hard-hit communities, according to the report. This was in line with an earlier report from FAO Somalia’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU).
GIEWS presented a worrisome picture as the lean season progressed and the recent escalation in conflict in the southern and central regions continued to have a disruptive impact on markets.
“The people of Somalia cannot afford to wait to see how the next harvest turns out. They need urgent support to improve their food security and maintain their livelihoods, most of which depend directly on agriculture,” said Luca Alinovi, acting head of FAO’s Somalia Office and the agency’s representative in Kenya.
FAO, addressing the humanitarian situation in coordination with partners in the Food Security Cluster (FSC), is urgently seeking $18 million to scale up rapid interventions (90-day priority needs response) to prevent and mitigate the further deterioration of the food security situation.
A delayed start to the 2014 gu season (April-June) has added to concerns already fuelled by the weak January harvest of the 2013-14 deyr cereal crops, cultivated during the secondary, late-year rainy period.
Harvests were well below the average in the central and southern areas of the country, following weeks of late and erratic rainfall, as well as flooding around rivers.
Lower stocks, coupled with the market and trade disruptions, led to double-digit increases in wholesale prices of maize and sorghum in some areas.
In the main producing areas of the south, the April retail prices of maize and sorghum were as much as 60 and 80 per cent higher, respectively, than one year earlier, which was attributable to the scaling back of humanitarian assistance operations.
The gu rains resumed in early May, but rains would need to continue through the end of June in order to prevent further deterioration of the food security situation in Somalia.
Conditions are expected to improve slightly in August and September when the harvest is ready for consumption, but the positive impact is likely to be moderate given the unfavourable prospects of the current season.
The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia is currently estimated at about 8,60,000, including over 2,00,000 malnourished children under five years of age.
Urgent action needed
The urgent activities proposed by FAO are aimed at meeting the most vulnerable Somali communities’ immediate needs and making them more resilient to droughts and other shocks:
The situation was being exacerbated by conflict and inadequate funding for priority actions designed to address the needs of hard-hit communities, according to the report. This was in line with an earlier report from FAO Somalia’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU).
GIEWS presented a worrisome picture as the lean season progressed and the recent escalation in conflict in the southern and central regions continued to have a disruptive impact on markets.
“The people of Somalia cannot afford to wait to see how the next harvest turns out. They need urgent support to improve their food security and maintain their livelihoods, most of which depend directly on agriculture,” said Luca Alinovi, acting head of FAO’s Somalia Office and the agency’s representative in Kenya.
FAO, addressing the humanitarian situation in coordination with partners in the Food Security Cluster (FSC), is urgently seeking $18 million to scale up rapid interventions (90-day priority needs response) to prevent and mitigate the further deterioration of the food security situation.
A delayed start to the 2014 gu season (April-June) has added to concerns already fuelled by the weak January harvest of the 2013-14 deyr cereal crops, cultivated during the secondary, late-year rainy period.
Harvests were well below the average in the central and southern areas of the country, following weeks of late and erratic rainfall, as well as flooding around rivers.
Lower stocks, coupled with the market and trade disruptions, led to double-digit increases in wholesale prices of maize and sorghum in some areas.
In the main producing areas of the south, the April retail prices of maize and sorghum were as much as 60 and 80 per cent higher, respectively, than one year earlier, which was attributable to the scaling back of humanitarian assistance operations.
The gu rains resumed in early May, but rains would need to continue through the end of June in order to prevent further deterioration of the food security situation in Somalia.
Conditions are expected to improve slightly in August and September when the harvest is ready for consumption, but the positive impact is likely to be moderate given the unfavourable prospects of the current season.
The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia is currently estimated at about 8,60,000, including over 2,00,000 malnourished children under five years of age.
Urgent action needed
The urgent activities proposed by FAO are aimed at meeting the most vulnerable Somali communities’ immediate needs and making them more resilient to droughts and other shocks:
- Temporary employment creation through FAO’s cash-for-work programme for the rehabilitation of water catchments and irrigation canals for an estimated 13,000 households (estimated cost: $6.3million);
- Distribution of adapted crop and fodder production inputs (seed and vouchers for fertiliser and tractor hours) for the coming Deyr 2014 season for an estimated 15,000 households ($5.5million);
- Livestock restocking for 4,000 destitute pastoralists ($3.2million), and
- Pest and disease prevention and control (mass vaccination and treatment against sheep and goat pox [SGP], peste des petits ruminants [PPR] and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia [CCPP] in affected areas) ($3million)
These interventions, planned for the upcoming three months, would be in the priority target regions of Hiran, Middle Shabelle, Lower Shabelle, Galgadug and Bakol in south-central Somalia and Bari in the north-east.
The overall FAO programme in Somalia consists of three pillars, namely resilience, institutional capacity development and policy support, and information for action, which includes early warning systems for food security, nutrition, drought and floods.
The total planned value of FAO’s Somalia Programme for 2014-2017 is $566 million, but as of today, only 14 per cent of the planned figure is funded.
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