The Horn of Africa in the Face of Famine

The horn of Africa is starving. Forecasts are indicating an underwhelming rainy season for the last month of 2022. Famine in African countries has reached its fifth consecutive dry season in significant parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. This year is the driest in 70 years, putting millions of lives in danger of starvation by Christmas. The drought gave birth to a severe famine threatening to take millions of people’s lives. Technology can offer solutions or, more importantly, help deliver solutions more effectively. But another main question that keeps rising is, why isn’t this famine at the forefront of every social media platform?  

Africa Remains Left Out 

Connectivity has turned the vast planet earth into a bubble. Everyone is connected to everything. It even can be said this has numbed our perception of urgency and tragedies. When you see people in misfortune daily, so far away, you might grow numb to it. Yet it is essential to share and shed light on world crises. Isn’t that the whole point of social media? To stay in touch with the world around you?  

That being said, this bubble has excluded and alienated the African horn. While everyone will celebrate Christmas, and the social media world is shedding light on various issues that need attention, the African horn remains left out. Why isn’t social media flooding with the millions at risk of starvation? Isn’t that the least the world can do to help battle famine in African countries?  

Selective social media activism and coverage have been an issue for a while now. The African horn is just the latest addition to the problems left uncovered by social media. But for how long will the world remain silent while Africa suffers. Informing is the least technology can do, so the world can know more about what’s happening to the poor souls in Africa.  

Technology Nurture  

 Many experts can already talk about how AI is used to combat world hunger. Various other technological solutions present themselves in the hopes of addressing some aspects of the hunger crisis. But we rarely see the focus on one of the most critical sectors that tech is revolutionizing. The new era of agricultural technology can bring some much-needed technological life to dead lands, and by doing so, the world would be one step closer to battling the famine in African countries.   

Agricultural technology is a vital part of food production as a system. It has been advancing quickly in recent years. Technology in the farming sector can allow us to produce food at unprecedented rates while conserving resources. An exciting development in the industry is the use of drones. Farmers can utilize drones to survey crops and monitor their health. Allowing the farmers to identify and address issues at early stages. Drones also qualify to apply pesticides and other treatments to crops more effectively. Optimizing the process, limiting waste, and resulting in a healthy excess that organizations can urgently donate to the Horn of Africa.  

The usage of mobile apps is a significant advance in agriculture technology. Farmers can get information about crop health and other pertinent topics, track their progress and submit data using mobile apps. As a result, scientists investigating methods to boost crop yields can be informed of this information, fostering open communication between those who produce food and those who study it. In the struggle to eradicate world hunger, agricultural technology is essential. Every day, discoveries and technological advancements bring us one step closer to a world without hunger.  

Technology as a Vessel for Change  

As mentioned above, the most viable solution is immediately feeding hungry victims. But what if it is a burden too heavy for technology to bear? The expectations could be shifted from relying on tech to solve the issue to just using it as a vessel and a method to deliver the solutions. The world should come to the aid of the Horn of Africa, and technology should be the tip of the spear we will use to fight this hunger, devouring the essence of the Horn of Africa.   

Moreover, the same drones used to revolutionize the farming sector can deliver packages to help the ones who critically need food and water supplies. Foundations can also use data monitoring systems to keep track of the intricate changes happening—assisting the world in delivering help to the areas in dire need first instead of arbitrary help. Location tracking can also ensure that no goods get lost, especially if they are airdropped. Technology can be something other than the solution, but it can surely help us more effectively.    

Concluding Thoughts  

Drought is a natural disaster brought on by several factors, including dry terrain and insufficient rainfall over agricultural lands. Rain is necessary for food production in the Horn of Africa. However, most countries in the region have little and poorly distributed rainfall. Extremely changeable and unreliable. The amount and duration of rain is the primary climatic factor determining land productivity because the area has limited water resources. While the experts are working to solve these issues, the least we can do is inform the public about what is currently happening in the horn of Africa.  

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