UN: 20m East Africans Face Severe Food Shortages
August 19, 2000 - 0:0
UNITED NATIONS, New York The number of people facing serious food shortages in Eastern Africa has risen to nearly 20 million, up three million since April, according to a new report released on Wednesday by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
The August edition of FAO's food supply situation and crop prospects in sub-Saharan Africa says continuing drought has undermined food production in vast areas of Eastern Africa, but it also blames war and civil strife for severely limiting farming activities in many parts of the region.
The report warns that large numbers of people will need massive and continued emergency assistance' well into next year.
Sixteen countries face serious food emergencies in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report, and a number of those, including Angola, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan, are suffering from the fallout of armed conflict. Others, like Kenya and Tanzania, have been hard hit by drought.
Food emergencies are also prevalent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique and Rwanda and Uganda.
One of the hardest-hit countries is Kenya, where FAO estimates that nearly 3.3 million people urgently need food aid.
The current drought has aggravated an already severe scarcity of water and pasture, resulting in large livestock losses, and some starvation related deaths have already been reported among Kenyan children.
On the positive side, FAO reported some good news in southern Africa. It is not all doom and gloom', Nick Parsons, chief of FAO's media relations branch, told the UN news service.
Southern Africa's cereal crop is expected to be normal this year.
Generally, that region's cereal production is forecast to be above normal.
Although Southern Africa's food supply situation is satisfactory overall, food assistance is required for areas affected by recent floods and cyclones, mainly in Mozambique and Madagascar, while in Angola, some 2.6 million internally displaced people face a precarious food situation.
Emergency food assistance is urgently needed, but in the longer- term, the UN food agency believes it can assist in protecting African countries against food shortages, Mr. Parsons stressed.
"We work to help countries become less vulnerable to the vagaries of nature," he said, noting that among its initiatives, FAO assisted countries with their water harvesting and control systems, crop diversification and the control of animal diseases.
(IRNA)
The August edition of FAO's food supply situation and crop prospects in sub-Saharan Africa says continuing drought has undermined food production in vast areas of Eastern Africa, but it also blames war and civil strife for severely limiting farming activities in many parts of the region.
The report warns that large numbers of people will need massive and continued emergency assistance' well into next year.
Sixteen countries face serious food emergencies in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report, and a number of those, including Angola, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan, are suffering from the fallout of armed conflict. Others, like Kenya and Tanzania, have been hard hit by drought.
Food emergencies are also prevalent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique and Rwanda and Uganda.
One of the hardest-hit countries is Kenya, where FAO estimates that nearly 3.3 million people urgently need food aid.
The current drought has aggravated an already severe scarcity of water and pasture, resulting in large livestock losses, and some starvation related deaths have already been reported among Kenyan children.
On the positive side, FAO reported some good news in southern Africa. It is not all doom and gloom', Nick Parsons, chief of FAO's media relations branch, told the UN news service.
Southern Africa's cereal crop is expected to be normal this year.
Generally, that region's cereal production is forecast to be above normal.
Although Southern Africa's food supply situation is satisfactory overall, food assistance is required for areas affected by recent floods and cyclones, mainly in Mozambique and Madagascar, while in Angola, some 2.6 million internally displaced people face a precarious food situation.
Emergency food assistance is urgently needed, but in the longer- term, the UN food agency believes it can assist in protecting African countries against food shortages, Mr. Parsons stressed.
"We work to help countries become less vulnerable to the vagaries of nature," he said, noting that among its initiatives, FAO assisted countries with their water harvesting and control systems, crop diversification and the control of animal diseases.
(IRNA)