Pastoral communities likely to face food deficits - report

An estimated 2,000 pastoral families in southeastern and northwestern Djibouti are facing food shortages as a result of a poor March-April wet season and the failure of the last main July-September rains, a famine early warning agency reported on Monday. Food security prospects were also not very promising for the inland plains and highlands, which face a six month dry season before the next rainy season resumes in April 2005, the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) said in its January update on Djibouti. A majority of the households in the Northwest Pastoral Zone rely on their animals as their main source of food, it said. Food security, the report added, was likely to deteriorate during the long dry season that started in November due a to lack of sufficient pasture and water, poor animal conditions, low milk production and low animal prices. Cash incomes in the Southeast Border Pastoral Sub-zone were relatively low and mainly derived from the sale of firewood and charcoal. Households had intensified their reliance on this activity in an effort to compensate for reduced milk production and higher staple food prices, FEWS Net said. "In both zones the reduction in milk and butter production, decline in animal condition and sales price, and gradual increases in staple food prices present significant risks to food security," it said. "Poor harvests in the sorghum belt of neighbouring Ethiopia could compound the problem, particularly in the Northwest Pastoral Zone." FEWS Net said food deficits were likely for poor households in both zones for a period of six months starting from November and called for action to alleviate the problem. The climate of Djibouti is hot and dry, with most of the country receiving less than 150 mm rainfall per year. Most of the country's 600,000 people squeeze out a living in harsh environmental conditions.