Multi-Sectoral Meher Assessment Final Report Tigray Region, Food and Agriculture

Agriculture remains the mainstay of the Tigray population with over 80% of its population dependent on agriculture for food and livelihood income and the region is divided into 16 livelihoods zone (HEA, 2016). However, the conflict which erupted in November 2020 has severely affected the agriculture livelihoods with major inflicts on infrastructure, loss of assets, mass livestock disease outbreak, and population displacement. Over 2.5 million of the people were displaced and still about one million of them remain displaced(IO/DTM 34) while over 1.5 million returned with no support who live in precarious conditions.

The Tigray region is currently facing a complex humanitarian crisis, with an alarming increase in food insecurity and loss of livelihoods, became of the cumulative effects of the two years of armed conflict and the current effects of El Niño. There is current metrological, hydrological, and socioeconomic drought in the region.

The region had about 1.1 million people who have been part of the productive safety net (PSNP) beneficiaries. This number has increased exponentially to over 5.2 million following the conflict in 2020. The humanitarian needs have been increasing throughout for the past three years due to mix of hazard mainly the conflict, drought, and crop pests and disease. While humanitarian needs continue to increase, there were limited rounds of food support in terms of social SafetyNet and emergency relief supports. Many of the existing close to one million IDPs reside with the host community and collective sites in schools mainly in towns (Shire, Axum, Adwa, Adigrat, Abiy Adi and Mekelle) and other government institutes and camps in Sudan. Moreover, influx of new IDPs triggered by fear of conflicts and the drought has continued.

The two years of conflict have resulted in inadequate access to food and income sources due to their significant disruptions to basic services and the Agricole sector in terms of damage and disruption of assets, damage to the irrigation infrastructure, livestock loss (looting, slaughtering and killing), and abilities of framers’ production. In addition to the consequences of the poor rain performance and input utilization, the impact of the war crisis significantly affected seasonal production and disrupted access to seed, extension support and human capital, and asset limitations.