FAO Digital Media Hub - OSRO/SOM/102/SWE - Addressing acute food insecurity

Background Information

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO) cash+ agriculture emergency programme, funded through the generous contribution of Sweden, is supporting farming households to address acute food insecurity in rural areas while contributing to mitigate further displacement by helping people to stay productive and laying the groundwork for future recovery.During the 2021 cropping season, FAO provided 1 350 households in Borama District, Somaliland with the means to plant and produce enough crops to meet their food needs. In addition to four hours of tractor use, households received 30 multi-layered hermetic storage bags to increase land under production, maximize crop yields and minimize post-harvest losses. With funding from other resource partners, households also received agricultural kits (comprising 12 kg of sorghum, 12 kg of mung beans, 10 kg of cowpea and 240 g of eight different types of vegetable seed) and cash assistance to enable them to meet their immediate food needs while their crops grew. FAO provided farmers with locally-adapted, drought-tolerant seed varieties that can provide families with sources of food, income as well as fodder from crop residues.FAO closely monitors the early development of farmers' crops through dedicated field monitoring, real-time implementing partner updates with geo-tagged photos of damage, and Hotline and Call Centre inquiries."FAO's support came at the right time for me. I was not in position to till my land, but FAO helped us with four hours tractor service, which enabled me to till well and grow seeds. The kit also came with seeds, cash and storage bags, which are all essential for vulnerable farmers like me who are affected by the desert locust and drought, " said Mohamed Abdi Muse, a farmer in Borama.