UN food agency seeks $1.27b to tackle drought in Horn of Africa

NAIROBI - The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that it requires $1.27 billion to respond to the severe drought which is ravaging three countries in the Horn of Africa in the next six months.

The WFP said the impact of drought in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia has led to food insecurity and a high level of acute malnutrition, as 22 million people are food insecure due to drought.

It said the funds are required for all its operations in the three countries from November 2022 to April 2023.

"Forecasts indicate a potential increase in needs; additional funding is needed to sustain and scale up assistance to prevent more dire outcomes," the WFP said in a situational report on drought response.

According to the UN food agency, communities in the Horn of Africa are facing the immediate threat of starvation, with forecasts indicating that the October-December rainy season is likely to underperform, marking the fifth consecutive failed season in parts of the three countries.

The WFP projected that famine will likely occur in three areas in the Bay region in Somalia between October and December.

"The loss of livestock and reduced productivity has eroded the livelihoods of pastoral communities. In 2022, at least 9.2 million livestock deaths occurred in the drought-affected areas of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia," the WFP said.

It has scaled up response across the Horn of Africa to respond to severe food shortages by providing life-saving food and nutrition assistance to affected communities.

"For instance, in Somalia, WFP has more than doubled its life-saving food assistance from 1.7 million people in April 2022 with plans to reach 4.5 million in the coming months," it said.

The WFP added that it is also enabling communities to recover faster and better from the drought by investing in interventions that promote resilience and adaptive capacities of communities to deal with shocks.