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Drought affected livestock walk toward a river near Biyolow Kebele, in the Adadle woreda of the Somali region of Ethiopia Wednesday, February 2, 2022
DROUGHT in the Horn of Africa has killed more than 1.5 million head of livestock and drastically cut cereal production, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Monday, warning that “we are most definitely now sitting on the brink of catastrophe.”
Rein Paulsen, director of emergencies and resilience at the United Nations agency, said that there was “very small window” for urgent action, with a key factor being whether the region’s long rains between March and May are good and whether the agency receives the $130m (£960,000) that it needs by June.
The short rains in the region, which includes parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, were supposed to come between October and December but “were extremely poor,” he said during a virtual news conference from Rome.
The West’s dangerous pesticide dumping in Africa is threatening biodiversity, population health and food sovereignty, argues ROGER McKENZIE
