The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday said that the severe drought being experienced in East Africa is hiking food prices in the region.
According to FAO’s latest Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulleting (FPMA),the soaring costs of basic necessities is an extra challenge for pastoralists as livestock prices continue to fall.
“Drought throughout East Africa has sharply curbed harvests and pushed the prices of cereals and other staple foods to unusually high levels, posing a heavy burden to households and special risks for pastoralists in the region,” the FAO said.
Poor rainfall in recent months has dented farm output in the sub-region, where food stocks were already depleted by the strong El Nino phenomenon that ended only last year
Farmers in the drough-hit northeastern region of Kenya have lost large heads of livestock to the drought, and have now opted to sell them at meagre prices to avoid a complete loss.2
According to the FAO, Somalia’s maize and sorghum harvests are estimated to be 75 percent down from their usual level, and some 6.2 million people, more than half of the country’s total population, now face acute food insecurity with the majority of those most affected living in rural areas.
Farmers in the sub-saharan region largely rely on rainfall in their venture, and are hoping the rains pour soon.
Before then, the animals continue to starve, prompting more farmers to sell their livestock at cheap prices.
