Nairobi 

The United Nations declared famine in parts of southern Somalia, which killed tens of thousands of people in one of the world’s most serious food security crises.A rare combination of conflict and insecurity, limited accesses for humanitarian organizations, successive harvest failures and a lack of food assistance jeopardized an entire population in southern Somalia. The country has suffered war on and off since 1991. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s response to Somalia’s famine included a combination of strategies that simultaneously focused on saving lives and livelihoods, while building longer-term resilience. All aspects of food security had to be addressed to ensure sustainable reduction in extreme hunger and malnutrition. Twelve months on, According to latest data situation in Somalia is on a path of recovery but that could be reversed if the current moment of aid response is disrupted. FAO's emergency activities include:

Drought Resilient Farming

In response to 2011's famine in parts of southern Somalia,  the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) more than doubled its support to Somali farmers, especially in the cereal producing parts in the country's south. To restore the crop production capacity of farmers, FAO distributed appropriate agricultural inputs (cereal seeds and fertilizers) and is providing technical assistance in conservation agriculture. FAO has already procured and is currently shipping 3750 tons of Urea and 1300 tons of DAP fertilizer to Somalia. Other quantities ordered are: 135 tonnes of maize seeds, 935 tonnes of sorghum seeds and 120 tonnes of sesame seeds.  Distribution of these inputs is aimed at restoring the productive capacity (and improving food security) of some 150, 000 farming households (equivalent to 900 000 people) in Somalia.  However, 2012 has seen the introduction of tractor hours per beneficiary, through which farmers access tractors to cultivate their land. This has resulted in cultivation of over 1,533hectares of land. Through an irrigation scheme, through which farmers pay money to access water, some 8496 hectares has been irrigated.

Video 2: Cash Schemes Help to Feed 1 Million Somalis

A forward-looking aid scheme designed and implemented by FAO is helping Somalis buy food for themselves and their families immediately while also equipping them to better cope with future droughts. The cash-for-work project is paid some 1million Somalia over the last one year $18 dollars a week for 2 ½ months to rehabilitate degraded irrigation canals and water-storage infrastructure in southern Somalia, where six areas were declared as famine struck in 2011. The project, intensified in the wake of 2011's famine in southern Somalia, has also created 51 000 hectares of irrigated land by restoring over 800 kilometers of canals. It will construction and rehabilitation of 200 rainwater-catchment reservoirs with enough capacity between them to water 650 000 animals for three months. More than 150 kilometers of essential feeder roads have also rehabilitated.

Vedeo 3: FAO Vaccinates 14 Million Livestock against Killer Epidemics

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has vaccinated nearly 14 million animals in the last one year in a move to protect the largest livelihood activity of Somali communities.  FAO’s livestock interventions also include helping farmers to boost fodder production, providing animal emergency treatment and strengthening animal disease surveillance. During last years drought that led to famine in southern Somalia, pastoral communities were hardest hit as livestock were wiped out due to drought-related diseases and lack of water and pasture.  
There are hopes that livestock – cattle, sheep, goats and camels — will continue to help bridge the gap. But untreatable diseases endemic to the region threaten the herds. FAO is racing against time to carry out vaccinations to remove that threat with a target of vaccinating 27 million animals by the end of 2012. PPR  (Peste des Petitd Ruminants) is an acute highly contagious viral disease of goats, less commonly sheep characterized by fever, errosive stomatitis, enteritis, pneumonia, and death. It’s estimated that Somalia has around 40 million livestock, upon which nearly 80 percent of the country depend on. Somali livestock exports to the Gulf States quadrupled to over 4million animals in 2010 after the Saudi government lifted a long-standing ban, figures continue to show. Saudi Arabia, formerly the biggest buyer of Somali livestock, lifted the nine-year ban in 2009 to secure meat supplies for haj pilgrims. Riyadh had imposed it due to concerns about a lack of proper health screening in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.