Gabby Lagunas

June 10,2017

Where is Food in the Horn of Africa

There is a family of five that live in a small cottage in the east of Sudan. The father walks
miles, asking people for small cleanup jobs but nothing is enough. The children are hungry and
they only have a cup of rice to feed everyone. Three days later the father leaves to find work,
leaving the mother and her three kids. Still with nothing to eat, the thirsty oldest son leaves to
help his mom find small jobs. This story is typical of the everyday life of people living in the Horn
of Africa.
Around 70 billion people all around the world are affected by food shortage. The Horn of
Africa is one of the many places that suffer from food shortage. The Horn of Africa is a
peninsula in Northeast Africa and consists of Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya,
and Somalia. 12 million people across the Horn of Africa need food assistance. Over 0.5 to 3
million people have became refugees seeking for asylum, and these numbers will continue to
rise.
You might be asking yourself, why is this happening? The reason varies. According to
the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), there are many factors
working together that cause a chain effect. For example, there is not enough land in these
countries, which reduces available feed. Then animals starve and there is failed reproduction.
Another problem is that pastoralists succeed more than farmers in the Horn of Africa, however,
the government does not give them enough support to make them successful. Sometimes men
end up leaving because there is not enough work. They leave women to take over and that
leads to food insecurity because women are not able to handle all the work. Finally, there are
many other problems contributing to food insecurity, such as weak infrastructure, inadequate
roads and water control, poor health, and low standard education. All of these reasons taken
together are causing this crisis in the Horn of Africa.
Currently there are a lot of different people who are trying to help with this problem. For
example some big groups like the FAO, the Food Security and Nutrition Working group, and the
Peace, Prosperity, and regional integration group are some organizations that are doing a lot to
help. They collaborated to solve current events like the serious drought going on and to
strengthen their food security. Of course many of these things are helping solve this big idea of
food security but we cant rely on these groups to do all the fixing. It may seem unconnected,
but all of our actions affect those around the world. We need to stop wasting food and be more
conscientious. If we all become more resourceful, we will eventually have more to help others
out. Lets all work together to help these countries in need.

Citations

The Economist. "The New Face of Hunger." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper
Limited 2017, April 17, 2008. [Web]. May 5, 2017.
<http://www.economist.com/node/11049284>.
 "Millions of People Face Food Shortages in the Horn of Africa." FAO - News Article: Millions
of People Face Food Shortages in the Horn of Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2017.

"Food Insecurity in the Horn of Africa." The Elimination of Food Insecurity in the Horn of
Africa - Summary. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2017
.