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High levels of food insecurity, below‐normal harvests expected in Karamoja
FEWSNET
At least two million people are currently food insecure in Uganda. This includes approximately 1.2 million people suffering the effects of prolonged civil insecurity in the north, about 700,000 in the northeast (Karamoja), where multiple hazards resulted in lower than normal crop harvests in both 2006 and 2007, and about 200,000 flood-affected individuals in eastern Uganda.
Household food security continues to deteriorate for an estimated 707,000 moderately to highly food insecure people (almost 80 percent of the region's total population) in northeastern Uganda's Karamoja Region. Prospects for improvement in September, when harvests normally begin, are poor, with expectations of a third consecutive year of below-normal agricultural performance. High prices for basic food staples, deteriorating terms of trade for livestock holders, and shortages in the food aid pipeline have only heightened fears of prolonged food insecurity in the region through September/October 2009, when the next harvest is expected.
Household staple crop supplies remain normal and are gradually increasing with the start of the harvests. Nonetheless, market supplies still await dry commodities and prices remain higher than normal, limiting access for market-dependent households, especially in Karamoja.
Prominent Western Sahara independence campaigner Aminatou Haidar speaks to the media while on a hunger strike at the Guacimeta airport, on Spain's Canary island of Lanzarote, November 17, 2009. Haidar, who ...
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