HORN OF AFRICA: Urgent action needed on food security situation, say FEWS-NET

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NAIROBI, 4 Mar 2004 (IRIN) - The food security situation in the Horn of Africa requires Urgent action, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS NET) warned in a report issued on Wednesday.

Food security in Eritrea, which suffered from several years of drought and conflict, remains bleak, despite a partial improvement in agriculture. According to final 2003 estimates, cereal production would be 57 percent of average production (1992-2002), but only 19 percent of annual consumption requirements, said the report.

"These crops and food aid stocks are not expected to last beyond March, when the hungry season begins," it said, urging donors to meet the country's needs.

The situation is slightly better in Ethiopia, where carry-over food-aid stocks and new food pledges are expected to cover nearly half the country's food needs for this year. The report warns donors to expedite their deliveries "to prevent a break in the food aid pipeline when distributions peak at 133,000 mt in June".

It said that in the pastoral Somali region, availability of pasture and water remained precarious, with no relief expected until the Gu rains in April.

In Somalia, according to FEWS Net, worst-affected are the northern and central pastoral areas. Several years of below-normal rains led to large-scale deaths of livestock - the areas' economic mainstay - have led to "income loss, sharp jumps in water prices and lack of food access". It noted that malnutrition rates remained high in the Sool Plateau.

The report, however, noted that southern Somalia could have a Deyr harvest (September-October) of nearly 50 percent above the post-war average.

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