Huge food aid shortfall amid worsening drought-related food crisis in Ethiopia

(New York, 19 May 2008): Failed rains and the current drought in large areas of Ethiopia have triggered massive food shortages that have left up to 3.4 million in need of life-saving humanitarian aid even as humanitarian agencies in the country report that they face a 183,000-metric ton (MT) food aid shortfall valued at $147 million.

In addition, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is warning that as many as six million children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says that it will run out of supplies of blended food, - a special supplement for older infants and young children, and other vulnerable groups who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition--and other relief commodities.

'I am deeply concerned about the food security situation in Ethiopia, and the consequent increasing numbers of malnourished children, as a result of the current drought,' said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. 'We will need a rapid scaling up of resources, especially food and nutritional supplies, to make increased life-saving aid a reality,' he added. 'In addition, as elsewhere, the rising global costs of fuel and basic staples are posing hardship for Ethiopia's people--especially the poorest.'

In recent weeks, there has been a rapid increase in cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and kwashiorkor in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR) and Oromiya Region, with alarmingly high admission rates for treatment in community-based therapeutic care programmes. However, the shortage of blended food for blanket supplementary and targeted supplementary feeding programmes is impeding the ability of the Government and humanitarian actors to provide adequate assistance. Targeted supplementary feeding programmes are facing a shortfall of US$29 million.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNICEF requires 1,800 MT of ready-to-use-therapeutic food for the coming three months for Oromiya and SNNPR alone. It currently has only 6 MT in stock. The agency will receive 90 MT of a form of therapeutic food made mainly from peanuts, which is expected to last just two weeks.

The humanitarian situation has continued to deteriorate in the worst-affected regions, including Oromiya, SNNPR and Somali Region in the south due to drought, shortage of required medical provisions, and limited responses so far from the Government, UN agencies and NGO partners due to lack of resources. Humanitarian partners are closely monitoring the situation in Amhara Region in the north, where inadequate rain is expected to result in a failed harvest.

The 2008 Humanitarian Relief Requirement had originally identified 2.18 million people who would require relief food assistance in the period between April and June 2008 in SNNPR, Somali Region and parts of Oromiya. Currently, humanitarian workers place the number of beneficiaries requiring food assistance at closer to 3.2 million. While WFP recently received donations for its Ethiopia operation from the Governments of USA, Canada Ireland, ECHO, Greece and others, the agency still requires additional contributions to address this urgent humanitarian crisis. The UN also has received donations from the United Kingdom, the Dutch Government, and the Norwegian Government. The Government of Ethiopia, the UN, donors and NGOs are responding to the crisis, but the enormity of the problem means that more resources will be required to alleviate the suffering of those affected in the coming weeks and months. The situation has been exacerbated by global and national market factors. The increase in the price of commodities and fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate have led to a rapid inflation of food prices as well as transport costs. Similarly, food prices have steeply increased in Ethiopia. WFP's market price monitoring estimates that the price of maize has increased by 83%, sorghum by 88.94% and wheat by 54.38% in the period between September 2007 and February 2008.

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; John Nyaga, OCHA-NY, + 1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570. OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.