East Africa food crisis

A food crisis in East Africa has left an estimated 14 million people struggling for survival. Widespread poor and erratic rainfall, combined with rising food costs, has made it much harder for people living in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda to access daily food and has increased their reliance on aid. Those who are most vulnerable are being hit the hardest.

Crops have failed and the livelihoods of many affected families, who rely on the land for survival, are under threat.

Kenya

• Post-election violence, which saw the displacement of farmers, disrupted crop planting cycles.
• Around 66,000 people are still living in temporary camps, limiting their agricultural activity.
• The livelihoods of more than 70% of people in northern Kenya, who are mainly pastoralists, are affected by drought and rising costs.
• Inflation has soared and there has been a 50% rise in food prices since the beginning of 2008.
• One in four children in Turkana, northern Kenya, is suffering from acute malnutrition.

Somalia

• The country is in the midst of a complex humanitarian crisis and has been without an effective government for 17 years.
• Renewed fighting has exacerbated an already desperate situation.
• The cost of food has increased substantially.
• Access to water is also a key issue – in some areas the cost of water has increased by 1,000% in the last few months.
• UNICEF estimates that one in six children in Somalia is acutely malnourished.
• The situation will continue to deteriorate in the next few months, and it is likely that more than half of the country’s population will need emergency aid by December.

Uganda

• While most parts of Uganda have had normal or good rains, the Karamoja region in the north-east is fast approaching a worst-case scenario in terms of food security.
• The prolonged dry spell in Karamoja is in its third consecutive year, delaying the single cropping season.
• 70% of people in Karamoja are receiving food assistance.
• There are high levels of malaria and pneumonia amongst children under five, with the child mortality rate almost 30% higher than the national average.

Ethiopia

• In most areas, food prices have shot up by more than 50%.
• The combination of poor land management and, some would say, climate change, has resulted in highly degraded land in many regions in the Horn of Africa. In Ethiopia, where 80% of people live off the land, the poor and erratic rainfall is having disastrous consequences.
• There have been dramatic increases in severe acute malnutrition amongst children.
• The situation will continue to deteriorate in the next few months, following the early cessation of the rains in September, which will reduce the next harvest.


How is World Vision responding?

World Vision’s response is tailored to each country and their specific needs. Our response is addressing both the short-term emergency and long-term needs.

Short-term:

• Distributing food
• Supplying potable water
• Providing supplementary feeding programmes, particularly for children and breastfeeding mothers
• Treating the malnourished
• Distributing seeds and farming equipment to enable production for next season
• Protecting livestock

Long-term:

• Increasing agricultural productivity, particularly in communities with an unstable supply of food
• Introducing drought-resistant crops
• Developing environmentally sustainable agricultural practices
• Improving nutrition and health, particularly for women and children
• Offering micro-credit loans to help to create more sustainable livelihoods

We are seeing progress in the communities we partner with, but there is still a long way to go.