ACT appeals for $2 m to alleviate hunger and drought

Action by Churches Together (ACT) appealed on Tuesday for more than US $2.2 million to fund projects aimed at alleviating food and water shortages in Eritrea, caused by four years of drought.

According to an ACT press release, the Lutheran World Federation, an ACT member, intends to undertake various projects in four regions: Maekel, Anseba, Debub and Gash Barka. The statement said these projects would supply inhabitants with food, water and shelter, and restock their livestock.

Scarce rainfall had resulted in another poor harvest, thus food reserves had been depleted and the coping mechanisms of the population stretched to the limit, it added. Livestock had migrated to find more fertile grazing.

Another affiliated body, the Norwegian Church AID (NCA-Eritrea), would provide targeted communities in the Zoba Senafe and Zoba Debub sub-regions with much-needed drinking water, said ACT. NCA-Eritrea would also address the problem of HIV/AIDS in those areas, which are located in the temporary security zone and host many displaced people.

As a result of chronic drought, more than 2.2 million Eritreans were unable to feed themselves and were dependent on food aid, ACT revealed in its statement. More than 66 percent of the total population was in extreme poverty and had poor access to clean water, it went on to say.

Malnutrition continued to be a major problem, with 10 percent to 20 percent of chronic malnutrition cases reported among women and children, ACT said as it appealed for a total of $2,255,562.

The organisation, a global alliance of churches and related agencies, estimated current Eritrean crop production to be 108,000 mt - almost six times less than the total annual food requirement of 625,000 mt.

Moreover, the alliance warned that scarcity of grain had caused its price to increase by 100 percent.