Maintenance

Food crisis in the Horn of Africa: "We must be alarmed by the drought affecting the region"

Cary Fowler, United States Special Envoy for Global Food Security.

© US Department of state

Text by: Christina Okello

4 mins

US Special Envoy for Global Food Security Cary Fowler has welcomed the arrival of a Ukrainian wheat ship destined for Ethiopia and Somalia, where a famine threatens nearly 22 million people.

It calls for the strengthening of the food autonomy of African countries.

Advertising

Read more

RFI: After six months of conflict in Ukraine, the first shipment of Ukrainian wheat arrived in Djibouti on Tuesday. Can it limit the food crisis hitting the Horn of Africa?

Cary Fowler:

It was an important day for people in the

.

For several months, wheat produced by Ukraine, the main supplier to the region, for countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Tunisia and the Horn of Africa, had been blocked due to the conflict in Ukraine.

The ship which reached Djibouti yesterday (Tuesday) is carrying 23,000 tonnes of grain destined for Ethiopia and Somalia.

This amount of grain can produce about 60 million loaves of bread.

It is important, but at the same time it does not change the fact that a large quantity of this wheat remains blocked in Ukraine.

This wheat can still be exported and used to feed the hungry around the world as soon as we can get it out of there.

And that's the point.

The resumption of Ukrainian grain exports on the world market is really necessary to stabilize food prices.

The Horn of Africa is threatened with a 5th consecutive season without sufficient rains and this drought raises the specter of famine… What is your reaction?

We must be alarmed by the drought that is hitting the region of course.

The fourth season of extreme drought has set a record.

We are now entering the fifth.

And this has created a serious humanitarian crisis.

In Somalia, around seven million people are food insecure.

In Ethiopia, food insecurity affects around seven and a half million people, including children, even livestock are affected.

In Kenya, they are about four million.

These are terrible humanitarian disasters that require humanitarian aid.

This is what we are trying to do through our Feed the Future program.

In particular, we have invested 1.3 billion dollars in the countries of the Horn of Africa.

And our partners in Europe are also providing humanitarian aid.

But in the long run,

What should be done to improve the self-sufficiency of African countries in order to make them less dependent on exports from Ukraine for example?

To strengthen food security, we must first find cereals capable of withstanding the effects of climate change.

We are heading towards climates that have never existed in the history of agriculture.

And we must ensure that our agricultural systems are adapted to these new climates.

This means developing cereals that can withstand drought and heat, while having better yields.

I'll give you an example: in southern Africa where we operate, farmers have grown some seven million hectares of drought-tolerant maize.

This concerns about seven million farm families.

This drought-tolerant maize will produce about 30% more maize.

Maize is the main staple in southern Africa.

You took up your post last May, at a time when food systems are under unprecedented pressure from climate change, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and war-related shortages in Ukraine.

Do you have reason to hope?

Obviously, this is not the ideal time to begin work as the special envoy for global food security.

You can quickly feel overwhelmed when you consider that 800 million people go to bed hungry every night.

But I think you have to get up every morning with the objective of doing your best.

In conclusion, it is also important to stress that the crisis affecting Africa is not a hopeless cause.

There are many countries on the continent that have huge potential, and we hope to help them realize that potential.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_EN

• Feed

• United States

• our selection