AfDB’s East Africa Regional Director General Ms Nnenna Nwabufo said the money would help address the impact of the prolonged drought and the added impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have deepened food insecurity in the Horn of Africa country.
“The grant constitutes additional financing to the multinational Programme to build resilience for Food and Nutrition Security,” Nwabufo said, adding that it will specifically deploy certified quality seeds of climate-adapted fodder varieties and enable the establishment of fodder banks in the six regional states of the country.
“Over the years, droughts have been increasing in severity and frequency in Somalia, creating conditions of chronic vulnerability with persistent food insecurity, widespread economic hardships, conflicts, and migration, hitting the pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities hardest.”
The money adds to Monday’s announcement by Samantha Power, the US Agency for International Development (USAid) Administrator, that the agency will provide another $1.3 billion in additional critical humanitarian and development assistance to help stave off mass starvation and deaths.
“It is reaction to an unprecedented drought in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia—part of a region known as the Horn of Africa—is pushing millions of people to the brink of starvation,” her statement underlined.
