In 2015, drought exacerbated by El Niño ravaged Ethiopia’s highlands and lowlands, resulting in crop failure and wide-scale animal losses. To counter the devastating impact on the vulnerable smallholder farmers that make up the bulk of Ethiopia’s workforce, FAO initiated a number of livestock and crop-based interventions in order to save the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians.

According to the Mid-Year Review of the Ethiopia Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) for 2016 prepared by humanitarian community and the Government of Ethiopia, $36.2 million is urgently required to support 2.4 million livestock-dependent households with critical interventions. An estimated $8.8 million is needed to provide root crop planting materials, legumes, vegetable and cereal seed to 530 000 households.

According to meteorological reports, a La Niña event is 55 percent likely for October to November and will have two major impacts on Ethiopia: flooding in the dominantly highland areas and additional drought in the lowland livestock-dependent areas of Oromia and Somali regions.

"If floods worsen later this year, there could be outbreaks of crop and livestock diseases, further reducing agricultural productivity and complicating recovery. Ethiopia needs urgent global support to respond to its humanitarian needs, we have no time to procrastinate." said Amadou Allahoury, FAO Representative to Ethiopia.