State of Emergency declared amid social unrest. The Government of Ethiopia declared a State of Emergency in October in response to a wave of protests that has been escalating since August. Travel and telecommunications have been restricted, affecting emergency monitoring and assessments on the ground, particularly in areas of Amhara and Oromia Regions. 

In 2015/16, drought caused by one of the harshest El Niño events on record led to significant crop and livestock losses in Ethiopia, significantly affecting the livelihoods of farmers, pastoralists and agropastoralists. Two failed seasons resulted in wide-scale dependence on food aid, high rates of debt and massive depletion of household seed supplies, with 1.7 million households identified as seed insecure – 88 percent of which were reached with emergency agricultural inputs for the meher (summer) season by FAO and other humanitarian actors. The same level of determined commitment is now urgently needed to assist pastoral and agropastoral households in most-affected areas of Afar, Oromia and Somali Regions. Livestock prices tumbled by as much as 60 percent in some areas, reducing incomes and exacerbating food and nutrition insecurity among livestock-owning households; livelihoods remained at risk through the mixed to poor 2016 belg (spring) rains, which should have fully replenished water points and pasture. Forecasts indicate vulnerability may deepen in southern pastoral areas, with a potentially long dry period until the arrival of the 2017 belg rains in March. The Mid-Year Review of the HRD estimated 2.4 million households will require urgent livestock assistance until the end of 2016. Nationally, 9.7 million people are considered food insecure, just under one-third of the country’s woredas (districts) were classified as Priority 1 hotspot areas, having decreased only slightly from 224 in March to 206 in July. The hotspot classification findings are critical for the prioritization and allocation of resources to affected woredas. 

Hotspot woreadas classification has been derived using six multisector indicators, including agriculture and nutrition, agreed at zonal, regional and federal levels. A hotspot matrix is often used as a proxy for the Integrated Phase Food Security Classification (IPC). 
  Crop and vegetable seed interventions in the most nutritionally vulnerable districts, benefiting 168 000 households as of October 2016. 
Distribution of survival and supplementary livestock feed to 9 600 households. 
Improving access to water for livestock through the rehabilitation of 18 water points, benefiting 125 480 livestock owned by 12 783 households. 
Supporting fodder production through the provision of forage seed to 1 600 households. 
Destocked 4 381 livestock, enhancing the income of 3 214 livestock sellers and improving the nutritional intake of 4 354 displaced households. 
Treated and/or vaccinated nearly 1.4 million animals belonging to 77 118 households. 
Created a Strategic Advisory Group to provide technical advice to the chairs of the Disaster Risk Management Agriculture Task Force. 
Created two emergency working groups (focusing on seed crops and livestock), to harmonize response to the crisis with government, NGO and resource partners. 

A recent Post-Distribution Assessment (PDA) analysed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the meher 2016 emergency seed distribution campaign. It was revealed that nine out of ten respondents received their seed of choice, found it to be of excellent or good quality, received it on time for planting and were overall very satisfied or satisfied with the whole distribution. Results of the PDA will contribute to informed decision-making in future emergency seed responses. 
Between October and December 2016, a Seed Systems Security Assesment will be carried out by FAO and partners, including Catholic Relief Services, in order to define upcoming seed needs for crop-dependent households. 


