Alert predicts major food shortfall

A joint report by the Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) has warned that as many as 800,000 Somalis across the country are at risk of famine following the worst Gu (spring) crop production for seven years. The alert warns that there will be a food shortfall in excess of 55,000 mt. The alert says that although recent rainfall is allowing some crop planting, there is still a long way to go to harvest and, warns that Somalia's pastoralists, who account for 80 percent of the rural population, remain extremely vulnerable, their fate compounded by factors beyond climate. In Somalia's southwestern Gedo Region, for example, politics and clan conflict have worsened problems brought about by the ongoing livestock ban and the attendant economic problems. As a consequence, the food gap for Gedo is now expected to run over the 12,000 mt mark. The American NGO CARE has estimated that at least 20,000 mt will be needed.