Feeding the Future: Innovation and Food Security Policy in the Horn of Africa

Somalia, a country of ten million people in the eastern Horn of Africa, has lately been in the world media as a source of bad news: anarchy, conflict, terrorism in its land, piracy at its coast, and a famine that killed thousands of people and displaced thousands more creating the world’s largest refugee camp. In 2011, the United Nations declared a famine emergency and reported that the lives of more than ten million people were at imminent risk of starvation in the region if emergency food aid did not reach them. More than 29,000 children under the age of five died in Somalia in July and August of 2011 alone. The world responded with emergency food aid to the tune of millions of dollars. The United States led the humanitarian crisis response effort by investing over one billion dollars in response to the United Nations appeal. However, this was not the first instance of famine and drought emergence in Somalia neither is it the last. The 2011 famine was contained but it was not controlled as evidenced by a new food security status report which stated thus: “2.12 million people are expected to remain in the Stressed, Crisis and Emergency levels of food insecurity for refugees and Coastal Deeh pastoralists, through December 2012” (East Africa Food Security Outlook: September 2012).This paper will provide background information on the myriad of intricate problems of the Horn of Africa including environmental degradation, poverty, and a web of conflict ranging from ethnic clashes to terrorism and piracy. The paper will then explore a responsible framework for the attainment of food security in Somalia by asking the question “is there a different approach or a deliberate and innovative system for ensuring food security for the population and reducing the need for food aid in Somalia.?” A review of existing literature will be conducted by discussing various challenges, international crisis response mechanisms, and current best practices. The paper will then use supply side economic theories by examining issues that can disrupt the food production and supply chains in the country such as heightened insecurity, poor access to trade, poor rainfall or flooding which result in constrained food supply. Finally, the paper will attempt to recommend methods for building the resiliency of the local population and their capacity to attain food self-sufficiency by identifying and addressing some critical underlying causes of food insecurity.There is an abundance of relevant reference materials available at the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as various international aid agencies that operate in Somalia. I will use my vast pool of contacts in the humanitarian aid sector and academia to gather information on the various approaches used in drought relief and food aid in the past. I will also make every effort to compare my recommendations to success stories in other nations or communities that used innovative methods in their quest for food security.The objective of this project is to highlight important aspects of the current food aid models in practice in the Horn of Africa region and present a fresh view of looking at current interventions, their relevance and suitability to the prevalent challenges and suggest important changes and innovative interventions especially in the light of the changing technological, political and security climate in the whole of Somalia.