he inputs required to plant in the meher season, which starts as early as mid-June for some crops, with planting ongoing until August for others.
More than 90 districts are currently not receiving any kind of emergency seed support or are insufficiently covered, according to FAO Surge Response Team Leader Pierre Vauthier. “It’s these forgotten districts that FAO is targeting — but without immediate funding support, some 150,000 households will miss their best chance of growing food to bring them through the year,” he said.
Depleted seed reserves
For many households, seed reserves are extremely depleted following unsuccessful planting and re-planting in 2015, while families in the most affected areas have been forced to consume their seeds as food.
As a result of the poor 2015 harvest, farmers’ income has been reduced and purchasing power constrained, further limiting their ability to buy the seeds and inputs they need to produce staple crops like maize, sorghum, teff, wheat, and root crops.
Because the spring rains were initially erratic and delayed, even those farmers who had seeds may not have planted enough to meet their household’s needs, especially in the north.
A good meher season will improve food availability nationwide and enhance access to food and reduce reliance on external humanitarian assistance in the medium term.
FAO’s response to El Niño
This year, FAO, together with the government and partners, has already distributed seed and planting materials for maize, sweet potato, Irish potato and vegetables in some of the most affected areas and continues to support livestock herders with distributions of survival animal feed. FAO is also helping farmers produce fodder and improve access to water for livestock. Herds across the country have also benefited from vaccination and treatment campaigns to address their increasing vulnerability to disease as a result of drought.
“A failure to deliver seed aid now will almost certainly mean a failure of the meher season for the most vulnerable, with dire consequences for food security. If we are to make a difference, the funds need to come in and they need to come in now,” said Allahoury Diallo.