AlQa'dah 9, 1436, Aug 24, 2015, SPA-- U.N. agencies said Monday that the number of Ethiopians who will need food aid by the end of this year has surged by more than 1.5 million from earlier estimates due to failed rains. Ethiopia needs another $230 million from donors to secure aid for a total of 4.5 million people now projected to require assistance this year, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the World Food Program (WFP), and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement. The country of 96 million people is one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, but failed rains have devastating consequences for food supplies. "The belg rains were much worse than the National Meteorology Agency predicted at the beginning of the year. Food insecurity increased and malnutrition rose as a result," said David Del Conte, UNOCHA's acting head of office in Ethiopia, referring to the short, seasonal rainy season that stretched from February to April. Areas normally producing surplus food in the country's central Oromia region were also affected by shortages, the statement said, adding that lack of water had decreased livestock production and caused livestock deaths in other pastoralist areas.
