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Somalia

Somalia: Drought Response Situation Report #1, 23 February 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • WFP has already mobilized its team on the ground to provide a robust and comprehensive response in all affected areas.

  • WFP has already started airlifting essential nutrition supplements, high energy biscuits and other in-kind food commodities to hard-to-reach locations in southern Somalia for immediate drought relief assistance.

Situation Update

  • Somalia is in a state of drought emergency, which has led to an acute food and nutrition crisis. In rural areas, consecutive seasons of poor rainfall and low river water levels have resulted in near total crop failures and reduced rural employment opportunities.

  • Throughout the country, there is widespread shortage of water and pasture, resulting in increases in livestock deaths, and rapidly diminishing access to food among poor households. Prices of local food staples have risen sharply while livestock prices have decreased significantly In the southern regions of Bay and Bakool and Gedo, these conditions are prompting migration into urban centres in Gedo region, Mogadishu and Ethiopia.

  • The approaching April-June rainfall is projected to be below normal and could contribute to further deterioration in food security, especially among the most vulnerable groups.