ReliefWeb

Callers this week (17-23 February 2022) to Radio Ergo’s feedback platform conveyed a sense of deepening hardship resulting from the current prolonged drought. The biggest number of calls came from northern regions. This week 25 per cent of callers were female, which is a larger proportion than usual on this platform. More callers spoke of difficulty in accessing enough food especially for their children. Callers spoke of livestock deaths and disease, displacement and migration, acute water shortage, and lack of fodder and food. Most appealed for aid and wanted their voices to be heard. There were also calls from some parts of the country citing destructive locus invasions. The following summarises the calls by theme.

Drought and water crisis – among the callers from Somaliland speaking of severe drought and the effects on livestock, one said they had not received any rainfall since the middle of last year. Another said the nearest water was 25 kilometres away and their livestock could no longer walk there. Callers in Gargaara, Awdal, said they needed the government to organise water trucking. In Togdher, a caller in Dadmareen said the borehole water was contaminated and a tank of water cost 10 dollars, which was unaffordable. A pastoralist in Odweyene said his 50 goats that had survived the last drought now faced death. Another asked for help in repairing a broken down well. A female caller said they could not get milk for their children and were appealing for help. Among the large number of callers from Sanag, one said the drought was getting severe and they lacked water and food. Another said many people had come in from Sool, Karkar and Mudug areas and they needed water aid. A caller in Erigabo said they were now starting to feel the biting drought and water shortage. A caller in Taleh said the aid distributed had not been given out fairly. A caller in Hulul said their young children had no food or milk. A female caller said they were facing drought, water shortage, and hardship. In Sool, a caller in Lasanod said their livestock were dying, and another said they needed help to save their livelihoods. Among the Puntland callers, one said many displaced people from other areas had arrived and they needed water, which cost two dollars a tank. In Galmudug, a female caller in Abudwak said they had been hit by water and food shortage and their livestock were dying whilst their children were in a desperate situation. Among callers from Hiran, an agropastoralist in Buloburte said their crops had failed and the lack of fodder threatened the lives of their livestock. A female caller in Jirale said they and their livestock had been hit hard, but some received aid whilst others did not. In Gedo, a caller in Garbaharrey said there was lack of food and water, the livestock had died, and people might die next. A female caller said there was drought and famine in the area, livestock were dying, and water was running out. A caller from an unspecified location said he was 105 years old, used to have a large herd of livestock, and wanted help from aid agencies so they could survive the drought.

Locusts – calls abut locust invasions came from Sanag, Togdher, Galgadud, Hiran, and Gedo. In Badhan, Sanag, callers said the locusts had been there for a month and they needed spraying control. In Kalmac, Sanag, a caller said the locusts were an additional threat on top of lack of water and fodder and feeble livestock. In Garbaharrey, Gedo, a caller said the locusts had invaded and destroyed farm crops and livestock fodder and help was needed.

Weather forecasts – a caller in Hiran asked for the return of weekly weather forecasts. He is among many callers asking Radio Ergo for regular weather updates, which we no longer receive from FAO-SWALIM or another source.

COVID19 - several calls from listeners in different regions of the country indicated that the disease was still present.