FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 10/00 - SOMALIA* (18 September)
The current "Gu" season cereal crop, being harvested, in southern Somalia is forecast at 214 000 tonnes, about 22 percent above the post-war (1993-1999) average but below the prewar average of about 347 000 tonnes. Widespread rains in April/May and good "Hagay" rains at the beginning of July helped developing crops in Lower Shabelle, Middle Shabelle, Hiran Bay, Bakool and parts of Lower Juba. Improved security conditions have also encouraged some households to return to farms and farming. However, poor harvests are anticipated in some pockets of Gedo, Lower Juba and Middle Juba Regions due to erratic and insufficient rains. Moreover, the irrigated maize crop in Gedo region has been affected by very low levels of water in the Juba and Dawa Rivers.
Despite some improvement in the overall food supply situation in parts of southern Somalia, serious malnutrition rates are increasingly reported reflecting a serious decline in livelihoods due to recent droughts and the longer-term effects of years of civil strife and lack of investment in the economy.
Elsewhere, in north-western Somalia (Somaliland) late and erratic rains adversely affected the establishment of the Gu crop in some districts. The food situation is worsening in some agro- pastoral areas in Togdheer, Awdal and Sanag where successive below-normal rains have severely affected crop and livestock production. With community support waning, migration of people and livestock to Ethiopia and other regions is reported. A poor response is also reported to the UN Inter-Agency appeal which was launched in July 2000, for US$15.6 million to assist some 750 000 vulnerable people.
The recent ban on livestock imports from some eastern African countries, including Somalia, by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries due to a Rift Valley Fever scare is expected to severely affect incomes of large numbers of pastoralists, as well as the import capacity of the country.
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