This document reviews food security in the Horn of Africa, including a brief overview of the 2011 crisis, current issues and forecasts for the future. For the purpose of this paper, the following countries were included: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
Synopsis 2011 Food Crisis
Early warning signs were evident in 2010 that food in-security posed a significant risk to millions of citizens across the Horn of Africa (HoA). In November 2010, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) issued their first warnings that a food crisis might be imminent. Similar-ly, the USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) predicted at least seven million people were dangerously exposed to three factors known to catalyse wide-scale famine: drought, escalating food prices, and on-going conflict. According to climate ex-pert Rupa Kumar Kolli from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “famines are man-made, whereas droughts are natural parts of the system.” Cycles of drought have ravaged the HoA for centuries and will continue to occur. When preventive action is initiated at an early stage, local resiliencies and international assistance can mitigate the effects of drought and stave off wide-scale famine.