Rainfall, timely food aid deliveries improve humanitarian situation

Recent rainfall and increased distribution of aid have improved the immediate humanitarian situation in the country, but additional pledges are still required to cover an 11 percent food shortfall in the June-December period, a famine alert network has reported. The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net), however, said an estimated 50 percent of humanitarian needs for the peak shortage months of September to November was yet to be obtained. "Only 36 percent of the non-food sector's emergency requirements have been met. At a minimum, already-pledged resources must be delivered and distributed on time in order to reduce uncertainties for food-insecure households and to help them retain productive assets," FEWS Net said in its July update for Ethiopia. It said food aid distribution had improved because of the increase in pledges. Between January and June 2004, the Ethiopian Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission's (DPPC), UN World Food Programme and NGOs had managed to distribute 386,110 mt of food, equivalent to about 68 percent of the total required amount, and 10 percent higher than the cumulative deliveries between January and April. In addition, the DPPC pre-positioned 10,787 mt of cereals and supplementary food for drought-affected areas which become inaccessible during the July-August rainy season. However, although the distribution-to-needs ratio appeared to be improving, there was still room for further improvement, FEWS Net said. Despite improvements in the food aid pipeline, pockets of acute malnutrition remained, it added. The DPPC, donors, UN agencies and NGOs, are expected to update the humanitarian appeal in August, according to FEWS Net. It said early cessation of the long rains in the Somali region had put pastoralists at the risk of food shortage. Resource- and clan-based conflicts in Warder, Dagahabur, Fik and Gode zones had exacerbated the situation by limiting people's movement and increasing local prices, it added. June rainfall was normal to above normal in most crop-dependent areas in the western half of the country. On the other hand, an early withdrawal and erratic distribution of Belg rains (March-May) had led to moisture deficits in the east. FEWS Net added that cereal prices had been stable in June, continuing a trend that started in March. Stable prices would help rural households obtain what food they could through the markets during the current hunger period, although rural cash income was critically limited by a lack of labour and other off-farm income opportunities. Despite improvements in the food pipeline, however, as many as 7.1 million Ethiopians would require appropriate types and levels of assistance in the coming months to rebuild their livelihoods following recurrent droughts, FEWS Net said.