Background

On 20 July 2011, the United Nations declared the status of famine in two areas of southern Somalia – the Bakool agropastoral livelihood zones and Lower Shabelle following two consecutive poor rainfall seasons. A humanitarian emergency exists across the rest of the south. Thousands of deaths have already occurred. This crisis likely represents the most serious food insecurity situation in the world today, in terms of both scale and severity.The famine is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming months should the current levels of humanitarian response remain unchanged.

An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia are currently affected by food insecurity as a result of crop failure and predicted low production in the August 2011 harvest. Most of these have lost essential livelihood assets – harvests, livestock, etc. – as a result of the drought in the Horn of Africa. These assets constitute the sole source of income and primary basis for household food security for these families. Inaction will lead to continued large-scale population movement and hunger. Protecting the asset base of herders and assisting farmers to resume planting in time for the upcoming season will be paramount to recovering the food security and nutritional status of the most drought-affected families.

The drought conditions that have affected much of the Horn of Africa have been particularly hard felt in Somalia, with many rural households forced to flee to Mogadishu in search of food and assistance, placing them at risk of the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of others have left the country, abandoning their meager livelihood assets.

About 80 percent of Somalia’s population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, the sector is severely restricted by recurrent drought and floods, civil insecurity and massive population displacement.

Pastoralists have struggled to cope with decreased rainfall, deteriorating water and pasture conditions, high commodity prices and poor terms of trade for livestock. Unusual livestock movements have been recorded in some area as pastoralists move their animals in search of pasture and water. Livestock body condition has deteriorated and mortality rates have risen, leading to reduced productivity.

Between October 2010 and January 2011, Somalia witnessed sharp increases in the prices of domestically produced cereals, with rises of up to 300 percent recorded in some areas compared with the same month in 2010. The January 2011 harvest failed throughout the agricultural regions in the south, and the outlook for the next harvest expected in August 2011 is not much better.

Given the current scale of the crisis, the needs exceed FAO’s resources and require the support of the international community. FAO Somalia is calling for USD 180 million to address the immediate needs of approximately a million drought-affected people over a six-month timeframe in southern Somalia and to increase food availability and access in the medium term.

Download the FAO assistance proposals for Somalia in 2012

FAO’s role in Somalia

FAO Somalia has a three-pronged focus, on: (i) longer-term initiatives in support of the country’s agriculture sector; (ii) crisis mitigation and response to natural disasters; and (iii) key information systems that collect and analyse data to inform decision-making and response planning for interventions of FAO, other UN agencies, NGOs and the wider humanitarian community.

FAO’s current interventions focus on:

• Information systems: Somali Water and Land Information Management System (SWALIM) and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), which serve as the main source of information on food security, nutrition and livelihoods in Somalia, providing impartial, evidence-based data in a complex political and humanitarian environment.
• Agriculture and irrigation: rehabilitating essential irrigation infrastructure and roads to improve market access, improving agricultural practices and storage techniques, and multiplication and dissemination of quality seeds and other inputs to strengthen and diversify agricultural production.
• Strengthening the livestock sector: assisting veterinary services to improve animal disease surveillance, treatment and control; increasing local institutions’ capacity to cope with disease outbreaks; and promoting the production of quality meat, livestock and livestock products for domestic and export markets.
• Livelihood support and diversification: short- and medium-term interventions to support the livelihoods of vulnerable people by distributing crop and livestock inputs and rehabilitating infrastructure through cash-for-work schemes.
• Emergency actions: distributing agricultural inputs (improved seeds, fertilizers, pest control equipment), restocking livestock, supporting fodder production and carrying out mass livestock vaccination.