East Africa is facing a threat of starvation following four failed rainy seasons, says a joint alert issued by humanitarian partners and metrological agencies. These organizations warn that the situation may worsen due to prospects of an unprecedented fifth poor rains between October and December 2022.
According to metrological experts, there is now a substantial risk that the October-December rainy season could fail. Should these forecasts materialize, the already severe humanitarian emergency in the East Africa region would further deepen.
The 2022 March-May rainy season is likely to be the driest on record, devastating livelihoods and driving sharp increases in food prices and water and nutrition security.
Available figures indicate that an estimated 1.5m livestock have died in Kenya and Ethiopia(2.1m), while over 1 m people have been displaced in Somalia and Southern Ethiopia.
Existing water deficits have been exacerbated by very high air temperatures, which are forecast to continue into June-September dry season.
Rangeland conditions will deteriorate faster than usual, driving additional widespread livestock deaths and population displacements.
In cropping areas, harvests will again be well below average, causing a prolonged dependency on markets, where households will have limited food access due to high food prices.
The Food Security and Nutrition Working Group(FSNWG) estimates that 16.7m people currently face acute food insecurity and projects figures to increase to 20m by September 2022.
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