Food insecurity worsens in northeast – FEWS Net

Food is in short supply in the northeastern region of Karamoja, which has been hit by drought, and most households lack food stocks, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) reported. In a food-security warning brief on 7 April, FEWS Net said food insecurity had been predicted, but logistical problems, mainly the deterioration of roads, were “limiting the timely delivery of food aid within the region”. Pasture and water conditions remained poor, the report said, causing cattle to starve. In addition, declining livestock prices and high grain prices were limiting farmers’ access to adequate grain from markets, increasing their food insecurity. However, the food situation in the internally displaced person (IDP) camps in war-ravaged northern Uganda was improving, FEWS Net reported. Many IDPs had taken advantage of a lull in hostilities - between the government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army - early in 2005 to cultivate land in designated “safe areas” outside the camps, resulting in a reasonable harvest season. Nevertheless, the report said, more help to meet the majority of IDPs’ food needs was required. The report coincided with the release of an April report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Global Information and Early Warning System, which classed Uganda as a country facing a food emergency due to civil strife, drought and internal displacement of citizens.