Figure: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) seen outside their makeshift shelters at the Raama Cadeey IDP camp in Baidoa, Somalia. ©UN Photo / Fardosa Hussein

FAO News 25/05/2023

Rome – The Horn of Africa is prone to natural shocks and hazards. The region has faced three severe drought phenomena in the last 12 years. Now, after five consecutive below average rainfall seasons, the region was back to its normal pattern during the long rains this year from a precipitation standpoint. However, floods are of great concern in the upcoming months. The combined effect of the long-lasting impacts of drought and the current floods continues to devastate people’s lives and livelihoods. In this interview, Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s Resilience Team Leader for East Africa, assesses the current situation and talks about how interventions must be scaled up amid growing global concerns. 

For instance, in Somalia we have targeted investments to support pastoral livelihoods. We are working on improving the feed sector to make sure that we have feed reserves and diversification of feed sources that are not only rainfed but can also be attached to irrigation potentially. We also focus our efforts on animal health protection because healthy animals are more resistant to shocks and diseases and therefore can keep producing milk.

Another important factor in resilience building that can be a game-changer is reducing post-harvest losses. At the moment, the region is losing around 4 000 000 tonnes of cereals per year. It is enough food to feed around 30 million people. This is quite significant. We have witnessed how the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine disrupted food supply globally. Producing more food locally will reduce region’s dependency on food imports.

Furthermore, food assistance in the region is in the range of $2 to $2.5 billion per year. Investing the same amount of money in grain silos and post-harvest losses management would allow farmers to close the gap on their food requirement. We would be able to significantly reduce the burden on humanitarian and food assistance with a long-lasting effect if we invested more in post-harvest losses reduction.

We are also looking into improvements in the feed and water sectors which requires efficient government policies, private and public sector investment and an enabling environment as well as a public private partnership type of framework.

In addition, we are also trying to find durable solution for displaced people in terms of livelihood diversification, economic inclusion, employment to make sure that they are reintegrating in the productive sectors.

These are the key areas that we are focusing on until the next drought strikes. What we are looking at now is how to bring the wealth of interventions together in order to have a cumulative effect at scale across the region. 

See https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/horn-of-africa---the-region-is-facing-an-unprecedented-disaster/en