Drought conditions and high staple food prices have left more than 340,000 people - over half of Djibouti's population - highly or extremely food insecure and in need of emergency food and non-food assistance through the end of 2009. Four consecutive years of minimal rains to support pastoral and agropastoral production have left rural and urban Djiboutians even more dependent on food imports at a time when international commodity prices have risen steadily.