DJIBOUTI: Precarious food situation in rural areas

Photo: IRIN

An Afar community living in Djibouti's drought-stricken Buia region, near the Ethiopian border.

NAIROBI, 19 August 2005 (IRIN) - The food situation in rural areas of Djibouti is precarious and there is a need to accelerate emergency food distribution in the tiny Horn of Africa country, an early warning network has reported. "Prices for staple foods and non-foods are increasing significantly, with negative impacts on poor households in both rural and urban areas," the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) said in its food security update for August. FEWS Net said a continuous rural exodus had been witnessed in the majority of secondary cities, and even in the capital, Djibouti city. "Animal productivity declined significantly and the current delay of karan/karma [June-October] rains raises concern for the food security of the livestock dependent rural population," it added. Djibouti is suffering from a drought following three failed rainy seasons. In June, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that an urgent flash appeal made in April for US $7.5 million in drought relief for Djibouti had received almost no response.