Somalia - Situation report 12 May 2017

Key messages

• Rural livelihoods provide a critical defence against famine. Interventions that reinforce rural livelihoods meet immediate food needs, mitigate displacement pressures, reduce the overall humanitarian burden, and lay the groundwork for recovery.
• FAO is delivering large-scale, strategic combinations of assistance to rural people at high risk, providing them with cash-transfers for food purchases while giving them the means to continue farming, raising animals, and producing crops now that the Gu rains have started.
• Key FAO deliveries since the start of the current crisis include: USD 8.5 million in cash payments to rural families, lifesaving veterinary treatments for nearly 9 million animals, and 848 tonnes of seeds to farmers ahead of the Gu growing season
• Donors have risen to the occasion, but additional and sustained backing for rural livelihood support is required. FAO’s drought response and famine prevention plan is currently only 41 percent funded.