Malnutrition over 20 percent, says UN agency

Somalia is continuing to experience food shortages, with some areas reporting malnutrition levels of more than 20 percent, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. In its March update on food security and nutrition in Somalia, the FAO’s Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) noted that in the southern region of Juba Valley, more than a quarter of children screened were at risk of malnutrition. In the central region of Galgadud, levels of malnutrition were almost as high, at 24 percent. "Limited services available for malnourished children in Somalia have forced families to travel long distances to Galkayo [central Somalia] in search of therapeutic care," the report stated. It also quoted an interagency tsunami assessment, which said that 22,000 people along the northeastern tsunami-affected coastline would need "sustained resource transfer over the next eight months". Elsewhere, "civil insecurity continues to disrupt pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods" in part of the western region of Bakool, according to the analysis unit. Meanwhile, in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, in the region of Karin, solitary locusts had been sighted in isolated incidents. The FAO’s Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animals and Plant Pests in Hargeysa, the region's capital, was planning a mission to assess the incidence and infestation levels. Somalia’s climate remained dry, as is the norm for the time of year, but climate experts were predicting below normal Gu rains between April and June. The Gu rains usually contribute towards 70 percent to 75 percent of annual food and fodder production, and are therefore of significant importance to overall food security. FSAU noted that sorghum (a staple crop) produced during the extended Deyr rains – usually only from November to January - remained in the market at significantly reduced prices. The harvests in the southeastern region of Shabelle, and Juba, had been affected by moisture stress, insect damage and hot winds. Heavy rains in Somalia over the past year have ended a cycle of drought that had lasted for more than three years.