PM Abiy arrived in Borena as the drought worsened

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has arrived in Borena to assess the drought situation in the Borena Zone of Oromia State.

Along with PM Abiy, other senior government officials, including Oromia Regional State President Shimeles Abdissa, arrived in Borena.

The Borena zone’s Disaster Risk Management Office reported that closely 85,000 cattle deaths are recorded, affecting the livelihood of more than 32,000 families.

The continual shortage of rainfall forced many to move far from their usual migration route.

Seasonal rain between October and December has failed people in the zone. For two years, several areas have seen almost no rainfall. The drought also amplifies the already limited water resource in the region.

“While confronting the climate shock by supporting communities in need in the short term, medium term water dev’t initiatives will enable proactive responses.” reads a tweet from PM Abiy Ahmed.

Calculations based on phases of the moon and the star’s position is common wisdom among the elders in the Borena zone. Last October, they predicted that the main rains would fail, but some never took them seriously. Local officials now believe the forecast for longing disaster.

Recently, over 30 million Birr has been allotted by Oromia regional state as part of a response to the drought that affected communities in the Borena Zone of the region.

“20 million Birr of the total amount will be used for the provision of food while the rest is to be spent on forage,” mentioned Geremu Olika, Head of Oromia Disaster Risk Management Commission.

The drought also amplifies the already limited water resource in the region.
Children are forced to leave their education, while malnutrition rates in pregnant and breastfeeding women are also increasing. UNICEF, closely working with zonal and woreda administrations, responds to the crisis.

Loss of cattle means loss of livelihood. For people in Borena, their survival is linked with their cattle. Even the price of cattle dropped because their condition deteriorated significantly.

Reports say the impact is currently more severe in the southern and eastern Oromia and Somali regions, where some 4.4 million people are facing critical water shortages.

Support from the government is slow, and Neither have response efforts been encouraging. The severity of the condition with deficit finance stretched between a global pandemic, desert locust invasions, political instability, and full-blown civil war.