ADDIS ABABA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) disclosed on Friday lack of sufficient fertilizers supplies could reduce the amount of harvest in Ethiopia's northern Tigray regional state by more than half.
UNOCHA, in its periodic northern Ethiopia situation period, said seeds and fertilizers are urgently needed for Tigray as the (meher) planting season from May to early July will start soon.
"For meher season in Tigray only three percent out of the required 50,000 metric tons of improved seeds, three percent out of required 1,500 metric tons of vegetable seeds and 10 percent out of the required 60,000 metric tons of fertilizer are being mobilized by partners," the UNOCHA report said.
"Failure to provide these agriculture inputs during the planting window can reduce crop yield from an estimated 9.6 million metric tons to 4 million metric tons and worsen the current high levels of food insecurity in the region," the UNOCHA report further said.
The UNOCHA report pointed out there is a need for 1,500 trucks that can transport 60,000 metric tons of fertilizers for the upcoming planting season in the northern Ethiopia region.
The UNOCHA also called for intensified efforts to provide seeds, irrigation schemes and livestock interventions to support an estimated 3.7 million people in Tigray, as well as 2.6 million people and 1.1 million people in neighboring Amhara and Afar regions respectively.
The rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) which de-facto controls most parts of Tigray region and the Ethiopian National Defense Force, backed by allied forces, have been engaged in a 19-month old intermittent conflict that has reportedly left tens of thousands of people dead and millions others in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
In March, the TPLF and the Ethiopian government agreed to a "humanitarian" ceasefire.
The Ethiopian parliament designated the TPLF as a terrorist organization in May 2021. ■