An estimated 6.5 million people in Somalia are now facing acute food insecurity, as prolonged drought tightens its grip on the country and pushes vulnerable communities toward the brink of catastrophe.
After two consecutive failed rainy seasons, aid agencies are warning of a dangerous slide toward the devastating hunger crisis Somalia experienced in 2022. With crops failing, water sources drying up, and livestock dying in large numbers, millions of families are struggling to secure even one meal a day.
The scale of the crisis is staggering: nearly one in three Somalis is now affected by severe food shortages. Without urgent rainfall and a major increase in humanitarian assistance, experts warn the situation could rapidly deteriorate.
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Pastoralism, which supports more than 60 percent of Somalia’s population, is collapsing under repeated climate shocks. For millions, livestock are their primary source of food and income. As animals perish from lack of water and grazing land, entire households are losing their only means of survival.
In Dhusamareb, 61-year-old herder Abdulkadir Mohamed Farah has watched his livelihood disappear within months.
“The livestock, both camels and goats, have been lost. Now we fear that people may follow,” he says. “The animals are dying. They have nothing to eat. I had 500 goats, only 50 remain. I had 70 camels, 20 are left.”
For families like his, the loss of animals means more than economic hardship — it signals hunger, displacement and the breakdown of a centuries-old way of life.
As food insecurity deepens, displacement is accelerating. In 2025 alone, more than half a million people were forced from their homes by the combined effects of drought and conflict. Many now live in overcrowded camps with limited access to food, clean water and healthcare.
Nineteen-year-old Maymun Ali Mohamed recently fled to a settlement for internally displaced persons near Dangoroyo in the northern Nugal region after her livestock died.
“When I saw the animals dying, I decided to move and stay with relatives,” she says, holding her two young children. “I told myself my young children must not die.”
Humanitarian organizations warn that rising hunger levels are colliding with shrinking aid budgets. Funding for Somalia has declined sharply, forcing many agencies to cut food distribution, water support and health services at a time when needs are soaring.
“The fighting has caused displacement. The drought has caused displacement,” said Mohamed Sheikh, who oversees operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Galmudug region. “The situation will become desperate if the rains don’t come soon.”
ICRC response from November 2025 to date:
More than 5,000 families displaced by the armed conflict in the Al-Miskat hills of the Bari region in Puntland, who were also severely affected by drought, received USD 120 each to help meet their basic needs.
Communities in drought-affected areas of Bari and Sanaag gained access to water following the rehabilitation of five boreholes.
Donated electromechanical equipment adequate for the rehabilitation of five boreholes (pumping units, control panels, generators, pipes and cables, among others) to the Puntland Water Development Agency (PWDA).
Children under five with severe malnutrition and medical complications receive life-saving care at the ICRC-run stabilization centre in Kismayo General Hospital, while communities across the country access nutritional services at 11 Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) clinics.