Food Security

Food Security in Somalia is a difficult subject. The main obstacle to tackling hunger is clearly the lack of peace and stability in much of the country, and the failure to establish a government that can carry out polices to provide immediate food security and build long-term safety-nets. Nevertheless, I'll touch on some policies that can and should be considered for immediate use or expansion.


1- Food Aid is needed to address the current hunger and malnutrition in the country. The World Food Programme has been providing emergency food aid around the world for decades, including in Somalia. They have faced some challenges with the uptick in piracy off the coast, and increased danger to the well being of WFP employees inside the country. Although it is a helpful emergency tool, food aid is fundamentally a short term policy and far from a solution to Somalia's hunger issues.

2- Local procurement of food aid appears to resolve the major flaw in imported food aid. By buying food aid locally, the WFP and other organizations can support the local agricultural market, rather than harming it. The problem with this (aside from creating a monopoly buyer) is that it is politically infeasible in Washington- the USDA provides most of the WFP's food aid from subsidized American farmers, and ships it over on American shipping vessels. The Farm lobby is powerful and wont allow food aid to be purchased from anywhere but the USA, which is why the WFP still has very limited local procurement. It is expanding, however, with the creation of Purchase for Progress. This is possible partly because European countries are providing cash rather than food to the WFP.

4- School feeding is a great strategy used by the WFP that provides schools with food aid so that they can give students a meal. This provides an incentive for kids to come to school, and has an especially high success rate in increasing the number of girls who come to schools. This strategy is a great tool to use in Somalia, and hopefully the WFP can expand into the country soon. The only weakness in this program is that developmental disabilities occur in hungry children primarily in their pre-school years, and by the time they are old enough for school the damage is done. Nevertheless this is a valuable tool.

3- Cash transfer and voucher programs are provided by the World Bank and other organizations to provide people in food insecure countries with access to food. In Latin America, these programs have high success rates and are being expanded. This could be a great resource for Somalia by providing poor people with the purchasing power they need to access food and other essentials. The problem is that it is hard to implement the program in Somalia today because of the lack of a functioning government and instability.

4- Agricultural development and investment is critical to resolving food insecurity in Somalia. Food aid, and to a lesser extent local procurement, cash transfers and school feeding, all have the potential to disrupt local markets and weaken local agricultural producers. Agriculture is a critical component of development and food security globally because it is important for food availability, but also because the poorest (and most food-insecure) people often work in agriculture.

My advice to those interested in improving food security in Somalia- support and invest in agricultural production.