The United Nations agricultural agency is set to scale up its activities in drought-hit regions of Somalia, after securing a $22 million loan from the UN emergency response fund.
“More than 2.9 million people are at risk of famine and many will predictably die from hunger if we do not act now,” the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, said in a news release.
As under-secretary-general, Mr. O’Brien heads the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which manages the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
“CERF is one of the fastest ways to enable urgent response to people most in need,” he said, explaining that the loan will bridge a crucial gap and allow FAO to immediately save lives and livelihoods of farmers and herders until additional funds from donors are received.
The efforts are part of the international response aimed at preventing another famine in the Horn of Africa, just five years after a deadly one devastated the country.
Across Somalia, 6.2 million people will face acute food insecurity through June 2017. Of these, nearly three million people are in Phases 3 (crisis) and 4 (emergency) of the five-phase International Phase Classification for Food Security (IPC), representing more than a two-fold increase from six months ago. Phase 5 is famine.
“Livelihoods are people’s best defence against famine and this $22 million loan is critical to FAO’s famine prevention and drought response in Somalia,” said FAO Deputy Director-General for Programmes, Daniel Gustafson.
Earlier this month, at least 20 people died of starvation in Somalia in a period of just 36 hours.
The country’s neighbours are also affected by drought, including Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
