US embassy cable - 04DJIBOUTI873

UNCLAS DJIBOUTI 000873 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID 
STATE ALSO FOR AF AND AF/E 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, ECON, EAGR, DJ 
SUBJECT: PROGRESS ON USAID-SPONSORED FEWSNET IN DJIBOUTI 
 
1. (U) Ambassador and USAID Director met June 10 with hosts 
of the USAID-sponsored Famine Early Warning System Network 
(FEWSNET) in Djibouti, at FEWSNET offices.  FEWSNET's goal is 
to strengthen the ability of Djibouti to manage the risk of 
food insecurity, through timely and analytical early warning 
and vulnerability information.  USAID has granted development 
contractor Chemonics USD 1 million to set up a FEWSNET office 
in Djibouti to monitor and predict food access for one year. 
The project was formally launched in March 2004. To date, 
FEWSNET has conducted two studies: an Urban Livelihood 
Baseline and a Rural Livelihood Baseline survey.  To 
undertake these studies, FEWSNET engaged experts worldwide. 
2. (U) Major findings of its Urban Livelihood Baseline Study 
indicate that: 
 
-- Most food purchased in Djibouti is not grown locally; 
-- Approximately 60 percent of the population in the poorer 
parts of the city of Djibouti live on less than USD 1 per day; 
-- The main source of income for the very poor and poor are 
casual labor, petty trade, and pensions; 
-- Besides food, water, kerosene and education are other 
significant expenditures for the populace. Doubling the price 
of kerosene will significantly reduce food purchasing power 
of the very poor by 10 percent; 
-- Most of the very poor that chew qat receive it as a gift; 
-- Households are vulnerable to increases in prices for 
imported food commodities, changes in government policy that 
affects salaries, pensions, and cost of non-food items and 
migration into the city.  Variations in the activity at the 
Port and the construction sector that affects casual labor 
also affect the poor households; 
-- Recent price increases are undermining urban food 
security, which is likely to result in a decline in food 
access for the very poor, and food intake of the very poor 
has probably been below minimum international standards since 
last February, 2004; 
-- In urban settings, most food is purchased and levels of 
income and patterns of expenditure are critical to food 
availability to all households. 
 
3. (U) FEWSNET holds that urban food security could be 
improved through reduced taxes for importing staple foods, 
monetization of food to stabilize market prices, extension of 
school feeding programs to poor urban neighborhoods and 
increase in government subsidies of the cost of education. In 
Djbouti, FEWSNET found that there are significant hidden 
costs associated with education.  Sending one child to middle 
school requires an expenditure of 10 percent of the income of 
the very poor and sending a child to secondary school is 
beyond the means of most very poor households. 
 
4. (U) Major findings of the Rural Baseline Study indicate 
that: 
 
-- People in the Central Pastoral Zone of Djibouti are most 
dependent on remittance income from the city of Djibouti; 
-- People in the Southeast Roadside Zone are dependent on the 
sale of milk, wood, fruits and vegetables to Djibouti city. 
 
5. (U) FEWSNET will monitor government policies, activities 
in the port and construction sectors, livestock and crop 
production, surrounding countries supplying Djibouti with 
produce and movements in the cost of the expenditure basket 
of different wealth groups in Djbouti in its effort to 
monitor and predict food access.  FEWSNET expects to 
disseminate accurate and timely early warning information, 
improve decision-making and response planning, strengthen 
country and regional networks and strengthen capacities 
through training. 
 
 
 
 
RAGSDALE