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FAO and USAID assist fishing communities in Puntland with cash and equipment to safeguard their livelihoods during crisis

As parts of Somalia continue to face historic drought and recent riverine and flash floods, the effects of the prolonged drought are being felt across the country, including among coastal communities who depend on the fisheries sector for their livelihood. A lack of rain and increasingly salty waters around the coastal areas could disrupt the reproduction of fish stocks, resulting in a poorer catch for artisanal fishers to take to market. Combined with the poor availability of locally produced foods due to drought, many of Somalia’s fishing communities have experienced economic destitution and worsening food and nutrition insecurity. 

35-year-old businesswoman, Intisar Abdirisak, buys fresh fish from local fishermen to sell at the market in the coastal city of Bossaso. However, with high imported food prices and low availability of fish, she could no longer source enough fish to sell, or get enough customers to sustain her business. It affected her family’s income, making it even more difficult to afford food and other necessities. “Our livelihood was affected when the rains didn’t come because the fish became scarce and disappeared further into the ocean, where we couldn’t get them easily,” she said. For many fishing families like Intisar’s, meeting basic needs became a financial struggle. “We couldn’t afford things like medicine, books and pens for the children,” she added.

Through the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA)-funded project, ‘Providing Emergency Life-saving Food and Livelihood Support to Drought- affected Communities in Somalia’, FAO has been supporting people like Intisar with cash and livelihood inputs to improve their access to food and other basic needs, and to safeguard their livelihoods respectively. This intervention is within FAO’s Cash Plus programme that focuses on saving lives and livelihoods in times of crises. In Bossaso, FAO recently provided 400 vulnerable fishing families with six months of cash assistance and fish processing kits to enable them to meet their most critical needs and better engage in the fisheries sector to improve their livelihood. This type of assistance is always coupled with training on efficient ways to use limited resources.

Intisar and other project participants received each a fishing kit which included a 20-litre cooler box, a food-grade cutting board, a 20-litre bucket with lids, long blade fish cutting knives, a sharpening stone, a stainless-steel cooking pot and high-quality utensils.

“As a family, the fishing kit FAO provided makes a huge difference to us. And I believe it will be beneficial for every family that received this kit,” said Said Farah, a local fisherman who was among the participants at the distribution site. 

In addition to the fishing kits, the participants also received cash transfers amounting to USD 75 per month for six months. The cash transfers provided them with immediate relief, and the ability to meet their food needs and other immediate basic needs. Cash transfers is a modality that promotes market functionality by stimulating stocking of goods by vendors thereby increasing availability of goods in local markets. As families use the cash to purchase goods and services from the local markets, the funds circulate within the community, leading to increased economic activity. 

The fisheries sector presents a great potential to help build the economy of Somalia by generating employment opportunities, diversifying incomes, and improving the food security outcomes of crisis- affected populations across the country. Therefore, safeguarding Somalia’s fishing communities during crisis is essential to improving food security in the future. “With these climate shocks also affecting fishing communities, we need to make sure that support is getting to destitute fishing families, providing them with practical ways to improve their income and better participate in the local economy,” said Misael Osano, FAO Somalia Fisheries Assistant. “Humanitarian assistance needs to reach these communities and we cannot afford to forget about them during disasters such as the protracted drought they experience in the last five seasons,” he added. 

FAO’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia in 2023 seeks to reach extremely vulnerable rural communities in areas at high risk of famine to avert further catastrophe and stem the rapidly rising numbers of persons displaced due to the prolonged drought. The Cash Plus approach enables immediate access to food and basic needs in rural, hard-to-reach and inaccessible areas, as well as safeguarding livelihoods and supporting food production where possible.