Food security hinges on rainy season

UN agencies working in Somalia have also warned of a looming crisis, especially if the upcoming 'Gu' rains fail - the chance of which meteorologists have set at fifty percent. "An estimated 650,000 people throughout the country are experiencing severe food and water shortages," the latest emergency report from WFP stated. The situation is reported to be of greatest concern in the southern regions of Bay, Bakol (where a UNICEF nutrition survey in Rabdure indicated a global malnutrition rate of
30 percent), Gedo and Hiran, where an estimated 425,000 are struggling to meet daily food needs. Hundreds of families have already migrated from Gedo and Bakool to Baidoa, Mogadishu and as far north as Bossaso in search of food, water and work. Hunting and the collection of bush products have increased, water tables are well below normal and are being overused, the
report stated. Another 200,000 people in the northeast and northwest are facing food and water shortages, the majority of this number in the Haud region - where Toghdeer and Sool are badly affected, WFP said. Pockets of high and extreme food insecurity have also been identified in the Burdhubo
district of Gedo Region, with immediate assistance required in Dolo, Luuq and Belet Hawa, it added. "The bottom line is, if the rains fail we will be dealing with a major catastrophe in Somalia," OCHA quoted WFP Representative Kevin Farrell as saying.