Ethiopia Still Faces Food Insecurity

Ethiopia Still Faces Food Insecurity Due To Drought Despite Some Rains, UN Reports

New York, Jan 26 2009 3:10PM

Although the October to November rainy season brought much relief to the drought-prone Somali Region of Ethiopia, reviving pastures and replenishing water sources, the rains were not enough to reduce overall food insecurity, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.

The failure of 2007 and 2008 rains has led to low livestock reproduction, high livestock mortality and miscarriage while crop production, despite the rains, has been severely constrained by shortage of seeds, an early end of rains and floods in riverine areas.

Humanitarian partners with support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are constructing hand-dug wells, latrines and water points in primary schools in areas around the town of Jijiga.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reports that 74 per cent of the November relief allocations have been dispatched countrywide as of 20 January including to Afder and Liben zones in Somali Region.

WFP continues to face shortfalls for 2009, including 345,876 metric tons of relief food worth $290.6 million, 54,655 metric tons ($47.2 million) for the Productive Safety Net Programme, 41,710 metric tons ($36.1 million) for the targeted supplementary feeding programme and 10,039 metric tons ($ 8.7 million) for Urban HIV/AIDS project.

Households continue to engage in negative coping strategies in order to meet their basic food needs by selling assets, reducing the number or quantity of meals per day and borrowing food or money, WFP reported.

ends

© Scoop Media