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U.N. Warns of Drought, Food Shortages in Ethiopia

By REUTERS

 

NY Times, August 2, 2002


 

ROME (Reuters) - The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said Friday that serious food shortages were affecting millions of farmers in eastern, northern and southern Ethiopia due to exceptionally dry weather.

The Rome-based WFP, the world's biggest food aid agency, said in a statement that the dry weather resulted from the partial failure of the ``Belg'' rains between February and May and a late start of the main ``Meher'' rains from June to September.

``A monthly average of two million Ethiopians had already been identified to be in need of food aid for the second half of the year,'' WFP said. ``But the poor performance of rainfall means a further two million will also need food assistance.''

In June and July, WFP along with donors and the Ethiopian government, conducted several joint assessment missions and found a particularly worrying situation in the farm region of Afar where rains have failed completely, the agency said.

``At least one third of the 1.2 million people living in the Afar region in northern Ethiopia, are in dire need of immediate food assistance through December,'' it said.

In Afar, both water resources and grazing lands are exhausted due to the total failure of ``Sugum'' rains between February and April, and a late start to the ``Karma'' rains, which are normally from July to September.

``As a result, a large number of livestock have died and many of the remaining animals have migrated to neighboring regions in search of pasture and water,'' WFP said.

While there are no reports of widespread acute malnutrition in Afar yet, the nutritional situation of children, women and the elderly is deteriorating rapidly.

``A major step has to be taken to save the remaining breeding livestock from being lost,'' said WFP emergency officer Paul Turnbull, after returning from a fact-finding mission to Afar.

``More food aid should be provided to the population, which in some areas is already migrating in search of food and water.''

Other areas requiring substantial food aid due to the poor ``Belg'' rains include: the eastern parts of Oromiya region lowlands, several areas of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region, and the northern part of Somali region.

The Ethiopian government has said it is providing 45,000 tons of food to its needy population.

``While existing emergency food aid stocks will be distributed to the most vulnerable people, they are not adequate to cover the current food needs,'' WFP said.

 

 

 

 


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