Somalia: Agricultural Livelihoods and Food Security in the Context of COVID-19
Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
Date: 2021
Topics: Climate Change, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources
Countries: Somalia
Somalia’s rural population currently faces a variety of challenges that threaten agricultural production and livelihoods and drive elevated levels of food insecurity. With cropping households experiencing below-average Gu harvests this year because of several hazards including climatic shock, many of these households have indicated that they were planning to plant reduced land area in crops for the upcoming Deyr season in comparison to normal, which could threaten future production levels and food security. In addition to climatic shocks, a lack of income to hire labour and buy seeds and fertilizer, as well as market-related difficulties, such as low prices and demand and high transportation costs have been expressed as challenges during 2020 and moving forward. The prevalence of food insecurity was found to be significantly higher than average in the regions that belong to the northern agropastoral zone. The COVID-19 pandemic did not have any major impacts on the price of locally produced food staples, though a brief increase in imported rice prices during the months of April and May were observed, likely linked to COVID-19 disruptions to global rice markets, panic buying in Somalia and increased demand during the month of Ramadan. The authors propose recommendations for decrease food insecurity