Armyworm outbreaks up ante on food insecurity in Ethiopia
By Simegnish Yekoye

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The food security situation in Ethiopia’s drought affected areas has not improved due to the cumulative effects of poor belg [March-April] rainfall season, armyworm outbreaks, continually increasing food prices and shortage of emergency resources, said the UN this week.
According to the report of UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, malnutrition conditions remain to be high in the Amhara region particularly in the area of Menz Gera woreda of North Shoa zone.
Early this week, the UN food agency has said it urgently needs 222 million USD to avert a major food crisis in Ethiopia to reach out for the 4.6 million people Ethiopian government and aid agencies said are in need of emergency food aid.
Another 5.7 million people who receive food and cash under a regular welfare program live in areas where the drought is persistant and require extra help.
The Ethiopian government also said 75,000 children are already suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition. WFP reports however, that malnutrition cases in children under five are increasing in some parts of Southern Ethiopia.
However, high prices of food items and lack of food supplies in Ethiopia are forcing WFP to bring in food aid from outside the country, from places such as South Africa and the Black Sea region.
The agency also says the cost of white maize, the staple food for most poor Ethiopians, has risen by more than 150 percent in Ethiopian markets in the past year, and grain has become so scarce that prices for most domestically produced cereals are higher than imported supplies.
The UN report quoted WFP stating that about 2000 farmers in Welayita and Gamo Gofa zones lost crops due to hailstorms, torrential rain and armyworm infestation. Furthermore, UNICEF reports that heavy rain has flooded 16 kebeles in Shashego woreda of Hadiya zone on the 8th of July affecting almost 24 thousand people. A disaster assessment is being undertaken, the report adds.
WFP also says that up-coming shipments of cereals and blended food in July and August will not be sufficient to meet estimated requirements.