Most of Abdi Ahmed Farah’s hundreds of goats have died. It has not rained steadily in this part of Somalia for three years, something the 70-year-old never thought possible.
He is in debt from buying water. The reservoir outside his tent is nearly empty. His family is down to one meal a day: rice with sugar and oil. The youngest of his 22 children was born three weeks ago and his wife produces only occasional drops of breast milk.
“I have considered abandoning my family because I cannot provide for them,” said Farah, sitting in front of dwindling food supplies, as if on guard.
Yet another drought is affecting millions of people across Somalia, one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate shocks. Some rivers are dry. Crops have withered. Experts say the drought could be among the worst in Somali history.
The crisis is compounded by aid cuts, most dramatically by the Trump administration, and rising prices from the Iran war. Somalia buys most of its fuel from the Middle East, and 70 per cent of its food is imported.
Production of staple crops of maize and sorghum in the October-December rainy season was the lowest on record in Somalia, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Food security experts warn that nearly a half-million children might face severe acute malnutrition, the harshest kind. That would be higher than the number of children requiring treatment for it during droughts in 2011 and 2022, according to UNICEF.
“2026 is the worst year on record for Somalia in terms of drought,” said Hameed Nuru, the UN World Food Program director for Somalia. “Children have started dying.”
The Somali government and United Nations estimate that 6.5 million people face crisis levels of hunger, representing a third of the country’s population and a 25% increase since January.
Aid agencies are trying to maximise resources and the Somali diaspora is sending money to help, but humanitarian workers warn it is not enough.
“This drought is not just another cycle of dry season. It’s a repeated climate shock with shrinking humanitarian support,” said Mohamed Assair, a manager with Save the Children in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region.
Farah once had 680 goats, but a lack of food and water as well as diseases exacerbated by drought have claimed all but 110 of them, barely clinging to life.
“There is no market for my goats because they are so thin. Previously we would trade them for rice, but now we can’t,” he said. Farah’s family has been at a site outside Usgure village for 10 days. Almost a dozen goat carcasses lie nearby.
In Usgure, home to 700 families, community leader Abshir Hirsi Ali said the local economy has collapsed because they rely on pastoralists like Farah.
Shops have closed and food rations have run low.
