Food Security Cluster

MOGADISHU —  Somalia declared the worst desert locust invasion in a quarter-century a national emergency that’s posing a major threat to an already fragile food situation. Swarms of the insects are breeding in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Sudan and have also spread to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia where they are devouring swaths …

BAIDOA — Communities in the Buurhakaba district have been affected by regular drought periods for several years, causing the loss of all their assets including livestock and crops. To support them, ACTED teams conducted rehabilitation activities and trained communities on livelihood diversification and improved productivity at the community level. Responding …

LASANOD — Hundreds of farmers and pastoralists have been displaced in Odagoye, south of Lasanod in east Somaliland after a severe water shortage arose due to quarrying activities in the river- bed. Hawa Mohamed, a divorced mother of six children, saw her one and a half hectare farm shriveling up …

MOGADISHU — At least three children between the ages of 4 and 6 died from hunger and disease in Mogadishu’s Kahda neighborhood internally displaced camps Friday, local media reported. “At least 3 children have died from extreme hunger at IDP camp near Mogadishu. This comes days after UN agencies called for …

LUQ  — Luul Mohamed Isaq, 42, a mother of seven, has been living in Kulmiye camp in Luq, in the southern Somali region of Gedo, under appalling conditions since she fled from neighbouring Ethiopia last June. Luul and her children have been sleeping rough, sheltering under a flimsy shack made …

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s federal authorities and international partners today launched a plan requiring more than $1 billion to provide much-needed humanitarian aid to some three million Somalis this year. “As we launch this plan, we must reflect on the nature of the humanitarian crises that Somalia continues to suffer. Just …

ADDIS ABABA — The most serious outbreak of locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, authorities say. Unusual climate conditions are partly to blame. The locust swarms hang like shimmering dark clouds on …

HOBYO  — Nearly 100 fishermen in the Somali coastal town of Hobyo, Mudug region, have stopped going out to sea because the town lacks electricity to power cold storage facilities. Two of the three power companies that had been providing electricity to Hobyo pulled out three months ago, citing the …

DINSOR — The International Bank of Somalia (IBS) and SOS Somalia have partnered to provide collateral-free loans to 87 small businesses in Dinsor town, Bay region, which is under an Al-Shabaab blockade. Kataba Ma’alin Abdulqadir, a local businesswoman, told Radio Ergo that she has received an $800 loan to buy …

BELETWEYNE  — Farmers in central Somalia’s Hiran region, whose farms were submerged by recent floods, are having to contend with swarms of locust devouring whatever they have planted since then. Kadiye Abdi Gadod, a farmer in Hodug, 34 km west of Beletweyne town, told Radio Ergo that locust swarms have …