Sunday October 27, 2019
MOGADISHU (HOL) - Up to 6.3 million Somalis will be facing acute food shortage by December, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned calling for scaled up donor support to avert suffering.
In a situation report for October, the UN agency said climatic shocks coupled with widespread poverty and vulnerability had trapped millions of Somalia in severe hunger.
Noting that cereal harvest in 2019 was 68% average in southern Somalia and the lowest such harvest recorded since 1995, the UN body called for sustained donor support to prevent more people falling into severe hunger.
According to the report, FAO needs an additional $66 million to support livelihoods in Somalia through 2019.
An estimated 2.6 million people remain internally displaced across the country, either scattered among host communities in rural areas or living in formal and informal settlements on the outskirts of urban centres, the report says. “Widespread malnutrition persists across the country and 1 million children are projected to be acutely malnourished over the next year, including 178 400 who are likely to be severely malnourished if interventions are not scaled up.”
It added that its relief efforts in 2019 had since reached 800,000 receiving direct livelihood support while a further 700,00 were receiving cash assistance.
2.68 million animals belonging to 400 000 people (67 040 households) treated against illness and disease, the report says.