SOMALIA* (23 September)
Initial reports from the Food Security Assessment Unit for Somalia (FSAU) estimate the current "gu" season cereal crop in all of Somalia at about 184 900 tonnes (56 percent maize 44 percent sorghum), 8 percent less than the post war average. This is roughly 30 000 tonnes less than the previous estimate during the crop establishment phase (in July), and is a combined result of civil insecurity, pest infestations, and climate conditions. FSAU will present the final results of the "Gu 2003 Assessment and Food Security Forecast to Gu 2004" October 8th in Nairobi and will issue a comprehensive report at that time.
Recent unseasonable rainfall in northern Somalia is reported to have missed the severely drought affected areas in the Sool Plateau and in most of the upper Dharoor. The food supply situation in these areas continued to deteriorate. A food security assessment carried out by the FSAU in June recently indicated that 3 500 households require emergency food and complementary assistance, while another 9 000 households remain vulnerable and require close monitoring. While the Sool Plateau poses an acute problem this year, successive years of food insecurity, coupled with increasing environmental degradation, are developing into a chronic food insecurity situation that requires longer term solutions than immediate relief. A subsequent collaborative nutrition survey also indicated global acute malnutrition rates of 12.5 percent. An UN Humanitarian Response Group plans to conduct a multi-agency humanitarian needs assessment in the Sool Plateau area during the first two weeks of October.