Add Hail, Flooding & Army Worms To Ethiopia's High Food Price Woes - Reuters

[hatrack]

ADDIS ABABA - Army worms, hail and floods are adding to the woes of Ethiopians reeling from high world food prices and a drought that has affected some 4.6 million people, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous nation has had the shorter of two annual rainy seasons fail, but aid agencies said earlier this month that a hunger emergency had been averted, although high food prices were still hurting Ethiopian families. Nearly 2,000 farmers in the southern regions of Welayeta and Gamo Gofa lost crops due to torrential rains, hailstorms and army worms, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly report.

Heavy rains also badly affected nearly 24,000 people in Shashego early this month, it said. OCHA added that malnutrition remained a major concern in northern Amhara, Oromyia and Somali regions.

OCHA quoted the UN World Food Programme (WFP) as saying that up-coming shipments of cereals and blended food in July and August "will not be sufficient to meet estimated requirements."

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