Food insecurity persists amid expected poor harvest – FAO

©  IRIN Villages abandoned by Somalis following severe drought.

NAIROBI, 26 Jul 2006 (IRIN) – This year’s main cereal harvest in Somalia is expected to be poor because most of the areas hit by the severe drought had received insufficient rainfall, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It said 2.1 million people were still experiencing food shortages.

Malnutrition rates remained high in many areas, including Gedo, Bakol and Juba Valley, the FAO said in an update on Somalia released on Tuesday. Nutrition surveys in those areas had revealed acute malnutrition rates of between 16.2 and 23.8 percent and severe malnutrition rates of 3.7 to 4.2 percent.

Harvesting of the main ‘gu’ cereal crop was due to start in August, the agency reported, noting that it would be the third consecutive season of below-average yields. “Despite some heavy rains at the beginning of the season, large areas in Gedo, Bakol,

Hiran, Bay, Lower Shabelle, Lower and Middle Juba, Galgadud, Toghdeer, Sool, Sanaag and Bari received below normal rains,” FAO said. The ‘gu’ rainy season (April-June) results in about 70 to 80 percent of Somalia’s cereal production in a normal year.

Prices of staple foods in most of southern Somalia were still much higher than normal for this time of year, according to FAO. Commodity prices had already risen by more than 30 percent since the end of last year, resulting in reduced food access by poor households, it added.

The recent escalation of factional conflict in Mogadishu and the reported military build-up around the south-central town of Baidoa, the seat of the country’s transitional government, were causing concern, having already resulted in heavy civilian deaths and displacement, the agency said. “As the bulk of food crops are cultivated in southern Somalia, any disruption of harvest activities would worsen the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” it added.

FAO’s food security analysis unit for Somalia last month recommended continued humanitarian relief in the south until the next ‘deyr’ (October-December) rainy season, saying increased attention to livelihood support, in the form of livestock programmes, cash assistance and agricultural rehabilitation in the south and parts of central and northern regions, was necessary.

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Source: IRIN, July 26, 2006