Humanitarian Bulletin - Weekly Humanitarian Highlights in Ethiopia, 13 June 2011

La Niña / Drought Update

According to the latest FEWS-NET Food Security Alert, the eastern Horn of Arica is experiencing one of the driest years since 1995, resulting in crop failure, substantial livestock mortality and high local prices for cereals. In most pastoralist zones of the eastern Horn, including Ethiopia’s Somali region and the southern lowlands of Oromia and SNNPR, pasture and water availability is below average for the time of year. In combination with the warmer-than-average temperatures forecast, this is likely to result in serious pasture and water deficits in the coming June through September which is a dry season in these areas. In belg-cropping areas, harvests are expected to be delayed and yield below-average production. Food security is unlikely to improve significantly in the coming months, and will deteriorate further in some areas, as staple food and fuel prices remain high. However, the increased availability of cereal supplies from the October 2011 to January 2012 main season harvest will contribute to some easing of food prices.

The preliminary findings of the gu assessment in Somali Region confirm that the gu rains were delayed by more than three weeks. While rainfall improved in late May, with the majority of districts in Fik, Degehabur, Afder, Liben, Gode and parts of Warder zones reporting medium to normal rains, overall rain performance was much below normal this year. As a result, while water availability has improved in most areas, with 50 to 90 per cent of water sources recharged, pasture has not been fully replenished and abnormal migrations of livestock continue. As a result of the impact of La Nina, milk yields declined more than 80% for cattle and 50% for camels; no goat milk production was recorded. Herd size has decreased to approximately 20 to 40% of normal for cattle; 65 to 80% of normal for shoats; and 60 to 75% of normal for camels due to increased livestock death, sale and slaughter, including of newborns. Very little planting was done in either riverine or rain-fed agro-pastoral areas. On behalf of the Agriculture Task Force (ATF), FAO is undertaking to collect information on response to date with a view to informing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), response and recovery interventions for future La Nina-induced droughts.

The Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS) is expected to release the next revision to the 2011 Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD), reflecting updates based on the mid-belg/gu assessment conducted in mid-May, in the coming week. For more information, contact: www.fews.net, ocha-eth@un.org & adrian.cullis@fao.org Seasonal Outlook and Market Update According to the National Meteorological Agency (NMA), the kiremt (June to September) rains are expected to be normal