Somalia: Agricultural livelihoods and food security in the context of COVID-19, Monitoring Report, January 2021

Key highlights

• Somalia’s predominantly rural population currently faces a host of challenges threatening agricultural production and livelihoods, which in turn are driving elevated levels of food insecurity.

• Cropping households experienced below-average Gu harvests this year as a result of several hazards including climatic shocks in the form of poor distributed rainfall, which included heavy rains and flooding during certain periods, as well as extended periods of drought at others, in addition to crop pests and conflict and insecurity.

• In addition to climatic shocks, key concerns expressed by cropping households included a lack of income to hire labour and buy seeds and fertilizer, as well as marketing difficulties due to low prices and demand and high transportation costs.

• Many cropping households indicated that they were planning to plant reduced land area in crops for the upcoming Deyr season in comparison to normal, which could threaten future production levels and food security.

• In 2020, pastoral households in Somalia benefited from well above-average rainfall during this year’s Gu season, which replenished water and pastoral resources and drove favourable livestock body conditions and prices. However, similar to cropping households, livestock producing households indicated numerous challenges facing the sector, including market issues and difficulties accessing veterinary services, feed, pasture and water.

• Most interviewed households reported that their overall incomes had decreased during the past three months (June–August) compared to the same time last year, with households involved in non-farm activities more likely to report income declines in comparison to households involved in cropping, livestock or agricultural labour. This suggests that households involved in the agricultural sector may have been slightly less exposed to COVID-19-related income shocks with regards to those involved in non-farm activities.

• The COVID-19 pandemic did not have any major impacts on the price of locally produced food staples, though a brief increase in imported rice prices during the months of April and May were observed, likely linked to COVID-19 disruptions to global rice markets, panic buying in Somalia and increased demand during the month of Ramadan.

• COVID-19-related impacts on livestock exports to the Middle East region from Somalia were not as severe as previously anticipated. Instead, livestock export volumes remained relatively stable during 2020 and livestock prices remained well above average. As such, these high livestock prices likely offset the impacts on food access that the rise in imported rice prices could otherwise have had in pastoral areas.

• The survey included the standard Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) module to measure food insecurity at the household level, adapted for use with a 30-day recall period. Across the sample, 74.3 percent of households experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, while 53.5 percent experienced severe food insecurity. In light of these results, the prevalence of food insecurity was found to be significantly higher than average in the regions that belong to the northern agro-pastoral zone.