LOKE, Ethiopia — Standing amidst a group of scrawny fellow Ethiopian farmers, Tuke Shika points to the scorching sun when asked why his food reserves have dwindled this year. “The weather has changed, it’s not as it used to be before,” he laments. “The rains are increasingly erratic, and we are getting less and less … Continue reading
In the Horn of Africa region, millions of families are desperate for food and water. Several seasons of failed rains is slowly turning into a major catastrophe. In Kenya an estimated 100,000 livestock have been lost to the current season. Read more … (World Sentinel) Continue reading
Somalia’s livestock-based economy has received a major boost as its major market, Saudi Arabia lifts its 11 year ban on imported livestock from Somalia. The lift comes after many Somali farmers suffered from the severe east African droughts that dried the soil and dehydrated livestock to death. Last month, a U.S. based NGO embarked on … Continue reading
Globalization has proven that what happens in one area of the world invariably affects the whole planet. Right now in Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, and numerous other countries, people are experiencing severe droughts and flooding to an extent beyond anything they have ever witnessed before. Rising temperatures all over the world are causing malnourishment, starvation, and … Continue reading
With children severely malnourished, animals weak or dying, and people struggling to find water, exceptionally dry conditions in the Horn of Africa have added to the cumulative effect of three to four consecutive seasons of poor or failed rains. Severe shortages of pasture and water, combined with high food prices, have left an estimated 24 … Continue reading
Satellites measuring the greenness of Kenya from space are set to help insure livestock herders against droughts and mitigate the effects of climate change, experts said Friday. “This is a new approach to tackle an old problem,” Carlos Seré, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), said of the satellite-based insurance for cattle, … Continue reading
On the occasion of World Food Week, FAO launched a new website on hunger. The FAO Hunger Portal features country specific statistics and an interactive world map to visualize the prevalence of hunger around the globe. A set of “Frequently Asked Questions” responds to standard queries on undernourishment. For those interested in deeper analyzes, the … Continue reading
The camel, its legs attached with branches, brays desperately, blood spurting from the cut artery; nomads in Turkana in Kenya’s extreme north have been reduced to sacrificing their animals to survive a bruising drought. “I brought this dromedary to have it killed and make a little money after the other one died of hunger with … Continue reading
Things Fall Apart Things have quickly fallen apart in this particular drought in the Horn’s vast drylands because of a toxic mix of underlying factors. Land Use Among the things not being redressed are land-use policies and practices that fail to account for population increases and thus are restricting herders to ever smaller, drier and … Continue reading
1.02 billion hungry people in 2009 – FAO hunger report published The sharp spike in hunger triggered by the global economic crisis has hit the poorest people in developing countries hardest, revealing a fragile world food system in urgent need of reform, according to a report released today by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP). … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 