How to Tackle Repetitive Droughts in the Horn of Africa

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently declared that millions of citizens in the Horn of Africa face food shortages. Owing to a persistent lack of rainfall between October and December, as many as 12 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are in dire need of food assistance.

But this is not new. Almost every year, around the same time, similar headlines appear in the news. For example, in 2014, 2015 and in 2016, news of drought and famine across the Horn of Africa was in the headlines. It is a cruel cycle that is likely to repeat itself again and again despite the fact that many of these countries are doing their best to prevent drought and other climate-related disasters.

Drought mitigation strategies in the Horn of Africa include both short-term approaches, such as distributing food to those affected and long-term approaches such as planting drought-tolerant crop varieties that can withstand insufficient rainfall, or diversifying one's crop and income base so that there is something to fall back on when drought strikes.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/02/tackle-repetitive-droughts-horn-africa-170214090108648.html

Neil Palmer/CIAT

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