Decline in livestock reproduction

A third consecutive year of below normal rainfall in northern Somalia has caused a significant decline in animal reproduction due to damaged pasture and adverse water conditions, a report has warned. USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) said this was particularly true of the grazing lands of the Sool plateau, where this year the reproduction rates of sheep, goats, cattle and camels have dropped by 44 percent, 73 percent, 77 percent, and 90 percent respectively compared to a normal year. This had caused "a significant decline" in the building up of herds, and in the supply of milk as well as meat, FEWS reported. Despite the decline however, the continuing import ban on livestock from Somalia to the Gulf states had caused an oversupply of animals to local markets, which in turn served to depress prices. This had resulted in "unfavourable" terms of trade for pastoralists. Food prices had also risen in the capital, Mogadishu, during June and July, due to insecurity. Clan fighting in central and southern Somalia had disrupted the movement of people and commodities between Baidoa - the main food-producing area -, Gedo in the southwest and the capital. "If the clan fighting extends to the neighbouring sorghum-producing belt during this critical stage of crop harvest, it could further hamper harvesting and exert a negative impact on food security throughout Somalia," FEWS added.