The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday said that it has bolstered humanitarian response in Somalia through cash transfers to alleviate the impact of drought on the food security and livelihoods of affected rural communities, reported The CGTN Africa.
Etienne Peterschmitt, the FAO representative in Somalia, said the current drought is the worst Somalia has experienced in at least four decades, adding that majority of the population is on the brink of famine.
Peterschmitt said the cash transfer assistance being provided by the FAO to Somalia’s vulnerable rural communities will help to address their immediate needs while helping mitigate livelihood collapse.
“This keeps families together during a crisis, reducing the risks associated with displacement and paving the way for a faster, future recovery,” the FAO’s Somalia representative said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.
He said that the assistance will keep families together during crisis, reducing the risks associated with displacement, and paving the way for a faster, future recovery.
According to the UN food agency, about 6.7 million people, including over 300,000 of those already facing famine conditions, are expected to be acutely food insecure by the end of 2022.
It said almost half of those facing famine are in rural, hard-to-reach areas and that the ability of the people to endure drought has now been exhausted. It is estimated that over one million people have left their homes in search of aid.
The FAO said its livelihood response to mitigate the impacts of drought on food security and livelihoods project is providing three months of unconditional cash transfer assistance to 6,050 families.
The FAO has 5,519 families have so far received three months of cash transfers amounting to 1.06 million U.S. dollars.
Peterschmitt said with the cash transfers, the food agency will be able to quickly reach vulnerable rural families and support them to endure the crisis. However, he appealed for an urgent and greater scale-up to prevent famine from occurring again in Somalia.
