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Due to soaring wheat costs, Covid failures and desert locusts, severe food insecurity is threatening up to 28 millions people
As drought grips the region and food costs soar, aid agencies warn that war in Ukraine is adding to the hunger crisis in East Africa.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing one of its worst droughts in recent memory. Since October 2020, three consecutive rainy seasons and below-average rainfall have failed to materialize. Is forecastAgain, March-May
Jane Meriwas, a pastoralist, was the founder and executive Director of the Samburu Women Trust, Kenya on Tuesday.
“Trauma is real and people are suffering in silence,” said Meriwas. “Let’s not close our eyes and say that Africa is not suffering and focus a lot on Ukraine. Let’s not turn a blind eye to this crisis because all of us are equal.”
Oxfam, an antipoverty charity warns that 20 million people will be forced into extreme food insecurity in Kenya and Somalia by average or below-average March-May rains. South Sudan is facing severe flooding for the fifth year in succession and eight million more people will go hungry.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is making things worse by impeding the wheat trade. The two countries account for about a quarter of the world’s wheat exports. This includes the supply of around 90% of East Africa’s imported wheat.
Wheat accounts for The average national cereal consumption is only a third84% of East Africa’s imports supply the rest. Wheat prices have fallen 80%Since the invasion, further disruption is anticipated.
Comment:Climate finance should not be compared to aid to Ukraine
A drought over four consecutive rainy seasons would be “unprecedented” since records began around 1920, Chris Funk, director of the Climate Hazards Center, at the University of California Santa Barbara, told Climate Home News.
Funk explained that dry spells in eastern Africa are linked to La Niña, a weather pattern that is driven by the cooling of ocean waters in the eastern Pacific.
Climate change has been caused by humans Contributed to the warming of western pacific, which in turn strengthens La Niña and increases the probability of drought in East Africa.
The exceptional warmth of the air in the region between December and February also played a part in drying up water sources that many pastoralist communities rely on. The region’s crop production is declining by As high as 70%.
Modi Mbaraza (executive director of the Young Women Christian Association of South Sudan) stated that vulnerable people such as women, girls, and the elderly in pastoralists communities are especially at risk of starvation since millions of livestock died across the region.
Carcass of a cow left behind in Dhoobley, Jubaland state in Somalia, after the drought. (Photo: Osman Hussein / Oxfam)
The Covid-19 pandemic, ballooning government debt, a desert locust plague and conflict have weakened people’s safety nets.
Global food prices reached An all-time record February high, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They are expected to rise even further after the war.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network Estimates70% more people are in urgent need of food assistance than during the 2016-2017 crisis.
The World Food Programme was created in response to the large demand for wheat and the dependence on imports from Russia or Ukraine. predictsThe shock to the global grain trade will most likely affect Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya.
The conflict has also had an impact on the price of sunflower oil, a widely used commodity. Nearly three quarters of global exports are made to Russia and Ukraine.
In Ethiopia, a week after the Russian invasion, the price of sunflower oil rose by 215%, said Gezahegn Kebede, country director of Oxfam Ethiopia, speaking of the “direct impact” of the war on the hunger crisis.
After clashes in Ethiopia, the Ali family fled their home and is now trying to survive between conflict, drought, and a plague caused by desert locusts. (Photo: Petterik Wiggers/ Oxfam)
Humanitarian groups warn that millions will starve even if rains arrive this month.
“The crisis in Ukraine, which is causing so much suffering there, is also amplifying suffering across the world,” said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International.
“The brutal truth is at the moment Africa is not on the global agenda. 2022 cannot be the year in which hundreds of thousands die from an avoidable hunger crisis in East Africa.”
Oxfam urges grain exporters to do everything they can to make up the shortage in Ukraine, which has impacted poorer countries.
The charity is also asking governments to contribute funds to a UN humanitarian appeal of $6 billion for South Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Kenya has secured only 11% of its UN flash appeal, while only 3 percent has been funded.
