×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Poor rains in Somalia threaten worsening hunger

by Katy Migiro | @katymigiro | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 29 November 2010 14:08 GMT

Hardest-hit areas are mired in civil war

NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Crops are failing in Somalia because of poor rains, a unit of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation said, raising the prospect of drought and increased hunger in a country where millions already depend on humanitarian aid.

"Below average rainfall in Bay, Shabelle, Gedo, Bakool and Hiran regions in southern Somalia has already led to early crop failure with planted seeds not germinating in some areas," said the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), managed by the FAO, in a statement.

Farmers are predicting low cereal production, it said, adding that herders were migrating to greener areas such as the border with Ethiopia because grazing conditions for livestock were poor.

The La Nina is a meteorological phenomenon that results in drier than normal conditions in the Horn of Africa. It is the opposite weather anomaly of its more infamous cousin El Nino.

FSNAU said the poor rains come after a long rainy season which saw above normal rainfall, boosting crops and conditions for livestock.

"Although it is too early to know the full impact of the below normal rains, now is the time to build on the gains of the last season and support farmers and pastoralists to maintain their stocks with livelihood support interventions, which can mitigate the situation to some extent," said Grainne Moloney, FSNAU’s chief technical advisor.

Without a functioning government and mired in civil war, Somalis are reliant on aid agencies to provide relief when there are food shortages.

Currently, some two million Somalis are dependent on humanitarian aid.

FSNAU will carry out a nationwide assessment in mid December. It warned that agencies must plan to deal with the water shortages to prevent a further deterioration of Somalia’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->