June 21-22, 2022 (GAROWE, Puntland State of Somalia) Hon. Mohamed Abdullahi Ahmed, Minister of Ministry of Livestock and Animal Husbandry (MOLAH) officially opened the validation workshop. Pillar leads, Ministry representatives, FAO and IGAD representatives, addressed the participants. All appreciated the importance of having clear data on available animal feed versus demand in the country, bearing in mind that livestock is the backbone of livelihood earning in the country and a major foreign currency earner.
The Minister thanked FAO and IGAD for financing and facilitating the process of building national capacity. He requested FAO and IGAD to work closely with the government and development partners to mobilize resources to support roll out of developed early warning tools-Animal Feed Balance Sheet, Predictive early warning systems and pictorial evaluation tool after validation. He committed that the ministry will take advantage of the findings from this assessment to inform future government planning and programming to mitigate the feed inadequacy and high cost of feeds that has greatly affected livestock production. With proper awareness and capacity building, the early warning tools can benefit pastoralists, government and development partners in programming.
The workshop was attended by forty-three participants; Somaliland 8, Puntland 15, Southern Central Somalia 12, FAO 5 (two representatives attended virtually and three physically), IGAD-ICPALD 3 and two IGAD consultants from private sector, ministries, non-governmental organizations and academia. Males were thirty-eight (38), 88% while female were 5, making 12%.
A few recommendations were:
- Pillar leads and FAOSO team committed to incorporate information gathered from the validation workshop and complete the report.
- Integrate early warning tools into national programming to ensure regular updates.
ICPALD expresses appreciation to FAO for financing this activity.
