16 million people facing “critical” food shortage

Nearly 16 million people are facing critical food shortages due to drought-induced crop and livestock losses, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its June food outlook. Pastoralists in the sub-region are the worst-affected after a succession of poor rains. In Kenya, nearly 2.7 million people mainly in the pastoral north and northeast provinces are facing severe food shortages, FAO said. In Tanzania some 800,000 people in several regions face serious food supply difficulties due to a poor “vuli” harvest for the third year in succession, while in Uganda, the food supply situation in the northeast is difficult for some 215,000 people affected by drought. Another 112,000 people have been displaced by civil strife in the country’s western district of Bundibugyo, FAO added.