This year’s holy month of Ramadan coincides with Somalia’s longest drought on record, and the harsh conditions have forced many families to rely on water and simple food, barely enough to satisfy hunger, the Associated Press reported.
More than a million Somalis have fled their homes to seek help in the growing displacement camps around the capital, Mogadishu, while an estimated 43,000 died in 2022 alone.
With the arrival of Ramadan, food prices have skyrocketed in Somalia, already suffering from inflation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the failure of local crops after five seasons without rain. Millions of livestock, essential to feed the population, have died.
According to the “Associated Press”, food has become more difficult for displaced people during Ramadan, as they wait in line for hours in the scorching sun to receive simple food in the form of donations.
Citing some of the displaced people in the camps, they live without plastic to cover them from the rain and without food to eat in addition to thirst and dehydration.
The Horn of Africa country imports most of its food, mainly wheat grown in Ukraine, while prices for key commodities such as rice and cooking oil continue to rise.
The World Food Program said in March, “Supply chain resilience in Somalia was generally good, but a sharp increase in demand for Ramadan will strain marginal and simple households that rely on local markets.”
“We are already seeing the prices of food and other basic goods rising sharply. With the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Somalis are likely to feel less,” said Ahmed Kader Abdi Jama, an economics lecturer at the University of Somalia. will be displayed”.
“For example, a kilogram of camel meat, which was about $4 before Ramadan, now costs $6,” he added. But Khader expects “this inflation will come down after Ramadan ends.”
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