FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 06/01 - SOMALIA* (18 June)
Below-normal rains during May in the main growing areas in the south have reduced soil moisture for recently planted maize and sorghum crops of the 2001 main “gu” season. More rains are needed to avoid a reduction in yields. Recent reports indicate that in the major cereal producing regions of Bay and Bakool, crops were wilting and more damage was caused by pests, mainly armyworms. Despite the good harvests in the last two cropping seasons, severe food difficulties may emerge reflecting slow household recovery from the earlier succession of droughts and long-term effects of years of insecurity. Moreover, further injections of new currency into the market with the attendant depreciation of the Somali Shilling have caused a sharp increase in prices of food items eroding the purchasing power of large sections of the population.
Elsewhere, in north-western Somalia (Somaliland) and north-eastern Somalia (Puntland), pasture and livestock conditions have improved with recent rains. However, the ban of livestock imports from eastern Africa by countries along the Arabian Peninsula due to a Rift Valley fever has caused substantial loss of income and has affected the livelihoods of a large number of pastoral households. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recently lifted the livestock ban which strengthened the Somali Shilling. However, the UAE accounts for only 2 percent of the total Somali livestock exports to countries along the Arabian Peninsula and the food security impact of lifting the ban is expected to be limited.
A UN inter-agency appeal was launched in March 2001 for US $130 million, to support livelihoods and assist the country’s recovery.