The famine in Somalia has ended, but, across the Horn of Africa, 14.5 million children and adults remain without enough food. No one can prevent droughts from occurring, but the international community can make the region more resilient to them.
ROME – After six months and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the famine in Somalia – caused by the worst drought in 60 years – is over. But a wider crisis in Africa continues.
In the Horn of Africa – Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan – some 14.6 million children, women, and men remain without enough food. While to the west, in the Sahel countries of Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, another 14 million are threatened.
Even worse, there is a high risk in Somalia that famine will recur unless coordinated, long-term action is taken. We cannot avoid droughts, but we can try to prevent them from becoming famines.
In just over a decade, the Horn of Africa has suffered three droughts, followed by severe crises. Each time, the international community agreed that long-term measures were needed to prevent another tragedy. But each time, when the rains finally came, the world’s good intentions melted away.
We must ensure that this does not happen again by joining forces now to banish hunger from the region once and for all. Not to do so would be doubly tragic, because the loss of life and human suffering would be entirely needless: as the end of the Somali famine shows, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its partners have started to make a difference.
The World Food Program, UNICEF, FAO, and international NGOs now have emergency response programs that are based not solely on food and input hand-outs, as in the past, but also on cash-for-work and food-voucher schemes. These allow families to buy food locally, enabling them to remain near their homes, while also stimulating economic recovery and rehabilitating the local infrastructure needed for agriculture and livestock production.
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
These agencies’ methods help people who need food urgently, but they also help them to improve their livelihoods and build resilience to surmount future crises. For example, farmers in Somalia’s Bay and Shabelle regions took advantage of the recent rains and the aid provided by the FAO and other agencies to double their production of maize and sorghum and bring in their largest harvest in years.
The world community must continue to implement such approaches if it wishes to contain and prevent further crises. Even at the height of the famine, some Somali farmers were successfully growing and selling their crops. This was possible because, before the crisis, FAO had used cash-for-work programs to help them to rebuild the local irrigation system and make high-quality, high-yield seeds available.
But producing food is not enough. Poor farmers can grow bumper crops, but unless there are roads on which to transport their produce, and a market where they can sell it, they will remain poor and vulnerable. And, obviously, if no one has the money to purchase what they produce, their efforts will be wasted. That is why it is critical to stimulate both local supply and demand.
Injecting cash into local economies can help them flourish. But people in rural communities need much else as well in order to live productive and fulfilling lives: basic social safety nets, schools, health services, effective risk-management systems, and personal security.
The FAO is renewing its commitment to a hunger-free Africa. But this goal is obviously beyond the capacity of any international organization or government working alone. Achieving this objective will require partnership among governments, regional bodies, civil-society organizations, and the private sector.
Linking emergency assistance with long-term measures can offer a way out of protracted crisis and onto a path of sustainable development. By stepping up current efforts, agriculture can also become a key factor in establishing peace and stability the Horn of Africa – essential conditions for growth and prosperity there.
Droughts are not preventable. But hunger and famine are. It is unthinkable for the international community to allow them to persist.
This column was produced within the framework of the EC-funded “V4Aid” project. The views expressed do not necessarily represent the view of the EU.
To have unlimited access to our content including in-depth commentaries, book reviews, exclusive interviews, PS OnPoint and PS The Big Picture, please subscribe
China’s prolonged reliance on fiscal stimulus has distorted economic incentives, fueling a housing glut, a collapse in prices, and spiraling public debt. With further stimulus off the table, the only sustainable path is for the central government to relinquish more economic power to local governments and the private sector.
argues that the country’s problems can be traced back to its response to the 2008 financial crisis.
World order is a matter of degree: it varies over time, depending on technological, political, social, and ideological factors that can affect the global distribution of power and influence norms. It can be radically altered both by broader historical trends and by a single major power's blunders.
examines the role of evolving power dynamics and norms in bringing about stable arrangements among states.
ROME – After six months and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the famine in Somalia – caused by the worst drought in 60 years – is over. But a wider crisis in Africa continues.
In the Horn of Africa – Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan – some 14.6 million children, women, and men remain without enough food. While to the west, in the Sahel countries of Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, another 14 million are threatened.
Even worse, there is a high risk in Somalia that famine will recur unless coordinated, long-term action is taken. We cannot avoid droughts, but we can try to prevent them from becoming famines.
In just over a decade, the Horn of Africa has suffered three droughts, followed by severe crises. Each time, the international community agreed that long-term measures were needed to prevent another tragedy. But each time, when the rains finally came, the world’s good intentions melted away.
We must ensure that this does not happen again by joining forces now to banish hunger from the region once and for all. Not to do so would be doubly tragic, because the loss of life and human suffering would be entirely needless: as the end of the Somali famine shows, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its partners have started to make a difference.
The World Food Program, UNICEF, FAO, and international NGOs now have emergency response programs that are based not solely on food and input hand-outs, as in the past, but also on cash-for-work and food-voucher schemes. These allow families to buy food locally, enabling them to remain near their homes, while also stimulating economic recovery and rehabilitating the local infrastructure needed for agriculture and livestock production.
Introductory Offer: Save 30% on PS Digital
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
These agencies’ methods help people who need food urgently, but they also help them to improve their livelihoods and build resilience to surmount future crises. For example, farmers in Somalia’s Bay and Shabelle regions took advantage of the recent rains and the aid provided by the FAO and other agencies to double their production of maize and sorghum and bring in their largest harvest in years.
The world community must continue to implement such approaches if it wishes to contain and prevent further crises. Even at the height of the famine, some Somali farmers were successfully growing and selling their crops. This was possible because, before the crisis, FAO had used cash-for-work programs to help them to rebuild the local irrigation system and make high-quality, high-yield seeds available.
But producing food is not enough. Poor farmers can grow bumper crops, but unless there are roads on which to transport their produce, and a market where they can sell it, they will remain poor and vulnerable. And, obviously, if no one has the money to purchase what they produce, their efforts will be wasted. That is why it is critical to stimulate both local supply and demand.
Injecting cash into local economies can help them flourish. But people in rural communities need much else as well in order to live productive and fulfilling lives: basic social safety nets, schools, health services, effective risk-management systems, and personal security.
The FAO is renewing its commitment to a hunger-free Africa. But this goal is obviously beyond the capacity of any international organization or government working alone. Achieving this objective will require partnership among governments, regional bodies, civil-society organizations, and the private sector.
Linking emergency assistance with long-term measures can offer a way out of protracted crisis and onto a path of sustainable development. By stepping up current efforts, agriculture can also become a key factor in establishing peace and stability the Horn of Africa – essential conditions for growth and prosperity there.
Droughts are not preventable. But hunger and famine are. It is unthinkable for the international community to allow them to persist.
This column was produced within the framework of the EC-funded “V4Aid” project. The views expressed do not necessarily represent the view of the EU.