ETHIOPIA: "We do not have anything in the house"
Expecting that the rains would fall soon so she could plant some vegetables, Nuria Mohammed sold her five cattle cheaply to raise some money to buy food for her family.
HARAR, 10 June 2008 (IRIN) - "I sold the cattle for 200 Br (Birr) to 300 Br," she said. "They had become skinny because of lack of adequate pasture, but still they were our only family assets. Previously, they would each have been worth 1,000 Br (US$105)."
Seven months later, the rains had still not come to Nuria's village of Burak Jeneta, East Hararghe zone in southern Ethiopia's Oromiya Region.
"Now, we do not have anything in our house," Nuria said of the impact of a drought that has hit the region, drying up food resources and water wells and wiping out pastures.
According to the government Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA), Oromiya and Somali regions are facing extreme food insecurity after the long rains failed in some pastoral areas during the last planting season, followed by poor to very poor short rains.
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