Ethiopia: Food Security Update Feb 2009

According to the joint Government and humanitarian partners’ appeal, the total net emergency requirement, including food needs for the year and non food needs for the first six months of 2009, amounts to USD 454,369,769.

The Crop and Food Supply Assessment Missions’ (CFSAM) report indicates that cereal and pulse production during the meher 2008/09 season was about 10 percent above last year’s post–harvest estimate. According to the report, this is the fifth consecutive season of good meher harvest with total cereal and pulse production estimated at 18 million MT, including 17.4 million MT from the meher season and a forecast of 0.6 million MT for the belg 2009 season.

Low availability of sweet potato cuttings, very low coffee production, and depletion of enset crop threaten food security in some zones of Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’ region (SNNPR) until the belg harvest begins in July (Full Report PDF)