Drought in the Horn of Africa has sent the price of staple foods, such as maize and sorghum, soaring in Somalia. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned a sharp increase in food prices could lead to renewed hunger in the region.

"It's clear we are on our way to famine, and if very quick action is not being taken, very large numbers of livestock have died already, the livestock that is still there is in very bad shape. We've just visited this village and not any of the water sources that was there before that was shared between people and animals is functioning at the moment,” Peter De Clercq, Deputy UN Envoy to Somalia, told CGTN. 

Farmers in the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions are also facing a major challenge after the Shabelle River dried up, and the region is considered the breadbasket of the country.

Ahmed Abdi Baafo, the National Drought Emergency Committee representative stated, “The rains are expected in April, we hope when the rains come farmers will go back to their lands and crop. But for those pastoralists that have lost their livestocks it's an economic loss, a loss of their livelihoods that will require assistance for longer period of time.”