From 11 February to 4 March DanChurchAid (DCA), in collaboration with its partners, Community Development Support Services (CDSS) and Kapoeta Development Initiative (KDI), did food security and market assessments in three counties (Kapoeta South, Budi and Ikotos) in Eastern Equatoria state, which comprise over 40.000 households.
Key findings were that:
The food security situation has deteriorated since January 2016 since the food harvested by majority of households in the last agricultural season was depleted in December 2015.
40.6% of the households (720 HH) interviewed did not have any food in stock. 34% of households with stock revealed that the stock would last less than one week.
The results show that the 74.6 % of the households interviewed in all the three counties are currently living just below a survival threshold for basic food and have adopted coping strategies with limited dietary food intake.
Food prices continued to increase due to devaluation of the SSP against hard currency (USD) so that households with low income level cannot not afford or access key food commodities i.e. cereal, pulses or meat. This situation is anticipated to deteriorate further between the end of March and May. Households are assumed to be food secure during the next crop harvest which is expected to be between July and August depending on the rainfall onset this year.
The market supply of basic food commodities has decreased compared to late 2015. Traders cannot re-stock commodities due to shortage of hard currency for purchasing food from East African countries (Uganda and Kenya). Many shops have closed down. utensils - do not have the opportunity to barter and are considered to be the most vulnerable and food insecure.
Action to be taken:
It is estimated that 13,450 households are food insecure while 11,154 households are moderately food insecure. DCA will boost the purchasing power of the traders and initially support at least 1,000 households through cash vouchers of $60 per household.
There is a clear need for stronger and urgent humanitarian action by relevant actors in order to save the lives of the most vulnerable people.
For more information, contact James Wani, DCA Head of Programme, Email: jwfr@dca.dk
