Emergency livestock response to save lives and livelihoods of drought affected pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in three zones (Dollo, Korahey, and Shabelle) of Somali region of Ethiopia in response to persistent drought Since March/April 2016, severe drought has engulfed the south eastern, southern and south western pastoral areas of Ethiopia affecting the livestock-dependent population in three of the four major pastoral eco-systems in the country. The magnitude of the drought was intensified by failure of successive seasonal rains beginning with spring, Belg/Gu/Ganna season of 2016, followed by Deyr/Hageya of 2016 and now again failed spring, Belg/Gu/Ganna season of 2017. The on-going Indian Ocean Diopole (IOD) phenomena induced drought has been dubbed as ‘the most severe drought ever’, because of its intensity, duration and coverage. In the three pastoral eco-systems, a total of nine continuous dry months  have been recorded to date and the quantity of showers received in the alternate months which were erratic and of short duration to make any meaningful impact. Meanwhile, the failure of the spring rains (March/April 2017) implies that the drought will continue until atleast October/November 2017 - seriously threatening the survival of the remaining livestock and food and nutrition security. The current food security and nutrition crisis in Ethiopia is linked to the collapse of pastoral livelihoods and a failure to invest sufficiently in local food production from the onset of the crisis.

83 out of 93  woredas (districts) in the region are now categorized under priority 1 (hotspot woredas) which is an upsurge from a mere 67 woredas in December 2016.  Only woredas in Fafan and Sitti zones (northern tip the region)  are spared with nutrition indicators.

Now, FAO and partners have no option but to continue with the provision of livestock supplementary feed to meet the necessary roughage, energy and protein requirements of the remaining breeding stock along with providing animal health services. A failure to provide this support will aggravate the vulnerability of the population that still owns few stock. Furthermore, providing no assistance at this point implies losing the remaining breeding stock, which provide the only chance of recovery for households when the drought abates.
The planned interventions for scaling up include: 
(i) Livestock feed supplementation: to guarantee access to appropriate livestock feed, commercialized livestock feed interventions will be implemented wherever markets are functioning within the affected zone. Targeting core-breeding animals, total mixed ration composed of supplementary concentrate feed, agricultural by-products (molasses) and other concentrates will be formulated and provided to key breeding herds to ensure their survival. To mitigate against market disruptions, these activities will be undertaken along with local traders and agro-dealers as needed. If feasible, locally procured feed will be distributed at temporarily established feeding points and along migratory routes with a preference given to the most productive and core-breeding livestock. The proposed feeding centers will be established near water points.
(ii) Animal health provisions for affected/vulnerable livestock: Mitigate likely outbreaks of diseases that will lead to even higher morbidity and mortality of livestock, animal treatments (curative and prophylactic treatments against internal and external parasites and other infectious diseases) in consultation and cooperation with local veterinarians and community-based animal health systems. 
(iii) Slaughter destocking of animals with low body weight: to generate income for affected households by off-taking weak animals, the project will purchase livestock directly from families, enabling pastoral households to purchase cereals and other food. Meat deemed fit for consumption will be distributed to food insecure and drought-affected households in order to provide animal source proteins and improve nutrition.  Project closely with local trade partners- unproductive non-core breeding livestock deemed unfit for or not competitive in local markets will be purchased.