The Horn of Africa has long been recognized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as one of the worst food security areas in the world. More than 40% of the population in the region is undernourished daily. This figure is even higher in Eritrea and Somalia, up to 70%. The total population of the seven countries in the Horn of Africa in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda is nearly 200 million people before, and more than 70 million of them live in areas that are vulnerable to food shortages for a long time. Over the past 30 years, The countries of the Horn of Africa have to suffer an average famine threat at least every 10 years.
Since last year, the region has continued to suffer from droughts that have not been seen for decades. High global food prices, continuous conflicts in some countries in the region, weak economic foundations, and inadequate external assistance have all aggravated the local food security situation. According to previous statistics of the World Food Programme, the total number of humanitarian aid needs in the Horn of Africa has reached 8.75 million. If the precipitation conditions in the region still do not improve significantly, this figure may continue to expand.
According to the statistics of the World Food Programme, as of the beginning of May this year, when the first rainy season in the Horn of Africa was more than half of the first rainy season in 2011, the precipitation in most areas of the region did not reach the historical average. The proportion of precipitation in each region in the region was only the normal value of precipitation in previous years. 5% to 50%, and well below the previously estimated rainfall. Rod Charters, an emergency coordinator for the Middle East and Africa in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, said that the current food crisis in the Horn of Africa is not a fortuitous event. It is a long-standing chronic disaster in the region.
The World Food Administration has issued a report stating that all seven countries in the Horn of Africa are IGADs. Their average GNP is only around US$200, with the exception of Kenya and Uganda. The economic growth of the countries in the region lags behind that of the domestic population for a long time, while the economic structure of the Horn of Africa is mostly dominated by agriculture. The dependence of major export commodities such as coffee and tea on the international market is highly dependent on the fluctuation of commodity prices in the international market. It has hidden its food security concerns.
In fact, some countries in the Horn of Africa have not obtained enough food supplies during the normal years of precipitation in the past few years. Among them, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have the most serious situation, and this is especially true for women and children. The lack of level is of the greatest concern. In view of this, any additional external food security shocks will bring new tensions to the region, and will increase the number of ordinary people in the region to the brink of famine threats, and this small and medium-sized farming households and nearly 20 million in the region. Animal husbandry has become the most serious food shortage among the population. In some areas, the proportion of livestock deaths due to drought is as high as 70%. Relying on the weather and detaching from the external market has become a weakness in the population's response to food security problems.
According to FAO statistics, over 2.4 million people in the northern and northeastern regions of Kenya are currently facing basic food and drinking water shortages, and with the drastic decline in milk production in drought-affected areas, the local food security situation may continue to deteriorate. It is expected that it may not be possible to ease until the rainy season in October this year. In addition, malnutrition among children in Somalia has become more prominent. The proportion of children suffering from severe malnutrition in the southern region has exceeded 30%, and 2.8 million people in the country are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The number of livestock deaths in the border areas of southern Ethiopia has reached 220,000. As of early June, the number of people in need of domestic food assistance has reached 11.4 million.
In addition, statistics show that recent food prices in the Horn of Africa have also skyrocketed due to drought-induced declines in food production. The price of maize, the main grain crop in the region, has risen by 25% to 120%. As of April, the retail price of red sorghum sold in Somalia's domestic market has risen 150% from last year to more than 200%. Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, corn wholesale prices in May also rose 60% to 85% over the same period last year. In Ethiopia, corn sales prices have increased by 60% to 120% between March and May.
The survey shows that the current continuous drought in the Horn of Africa has become one of the most severe droughts in the region since the 1950s. Many countries have declared that the country has entered a state of drought. According to the evaluation of the food security level of UN agencies, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia currently have entered the state of food security at the second level, which means they are in a “tense stateâ€, and the remaining countries in the region have been classified as “crisis†(level 3). And the “emergency†(level 4) status is only one step away from the highest level of the evaluation level 5, the “disaster/famine†status.
Food security has also led to a growing wave of refugees in the Horn of Africa. According to statistics of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of this year, Kenya has received more than 61,000 Somali refugees this year, and UN agencies have opened a new site in the Dadaab camp in Kenya. 3 emergency reception centers, as of now, the total refugee population in the Dadaab camp has exceeded 370,000.
At the same time, since the beginning of this year, the number of refugees from Somalia to Ethiopia has reached 55,000. The receiving capacity of the two major refugee camps in the southeastern region of Ethiopia is nearly saturated, and the total number of Somali refugees in the country is currently 130,000. In view of this, UNHCR has decided to open a new refugee reception office in its territory. Analysts said that the increase in the number of refugees admitted to refugee camps has not only caused population congestion, reduced food quotas, declining sanitary conditions, and even unavoidable acts of violence in order to compete for space.
However, while the food security situation has been deteriorating, statistics show that the overall development assistance for official channels in the Horn of Africa has dropped by 40% since 1990, with development aid in the agricultural sector dropping most significantly. In Somalia, WFP has a shortfall of 70% in aid funds, and it is in urgent need of US$53 million in humanitarian aid projects in the next six months, compared with US$47 million in Kenya. In order to alleviate the shortage of funds most quickly, the World Food Programme has had to reduce aid quotas for food in Somalia and Ethiopia since February this year.
Many charitable aid agencies have already called on the international community to increase aid to the Horn of Africa as quickly as possible and adopt practical and feasible aid measures. However, at the same time, from a long-term perspective, external food aid should not be excessively weakened by countries’ ability to solve problems by themselves. Ultimately, it aims to prevent the Horn of Africa from constantly falling to the “corner of food crisisâ€.
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