The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has said that it has been forced to cut food rations in operations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Palestine as needs outpace available funding, revealed that more cuts are looming in Somalia and Chad.
The World food Agency who disclosed this on Tuesday, just days for the G7 leaders to meet in Japan, analysized that some 345 million people are currently facing high levels of food insecurity, an increase of almost 200 million since early 2020.
The Agency said further that of these, 43 million are just one step away from famine, saying fighting in Sudan has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and pushed millions into hunger.
The WFP estimated that between 2 and 2.5 million additional people will become acutely food insecure in coming months as a direct result of ongoing fighting, taking the total in the country to a record 19 million.
According to the Agency, “In Haiti, hunger tightening grip as insecurity, violence and deepening economic woes drive food insecure Haitians further into crisis. A record 4.9 million people in the country are estimated to be facing acute hunger, around 45% of the population.
“Similarly, in the Sahel region of Africa, new outbreaks of violence in places such as Burkina Faso are driving hunger among fleeing populations as well as those whose lives and livelihoods have been upended by conflict”, the WFP added.
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said, “Last year, G7 leadership achieved life-saving results in the fight against hunger.
“Millions of people received much needed support and countries like Somalia were pulled back from the brink of famine. Unfortunately, the global food crisis hasn’t gone away. And situations like Sudan and Haiti are adding fuel to the fire.
“We need to step-up assistance, especially when it comes to making our food systems more resilient,” said McCain. “If we can prepare at-risk communities to handle future climate shocks, they won’t need emergency support the next time there’s a drought or flood”.
The UN World Food Programme stressed that the G7’s strong commitment to global food security in 2022 must be maintained in 2023 as new crises in Sudan, Haiti and the Sahel push more people into hunger.
The Agency called on G7 countries, all of whom increased funding in 2022, to continue funding food assistance for the hundreds of millions of people affected by the global food crisis and the millions new to hunger since last year.
While calling for political support for other actions which would help ease the crisis. “These include working for the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, ensuring adequate supplies of fertilizer and supporting programmes to increase smallholder farmers’ production.
“Longer term requests centre on the need to make vulnerable populations more resilient. They include a renewed focus on social protection for communities at risk and ensuring every child in need receives a nutritious meal in school daily.
In 2022, Niger faced its worst food security crisis in a decade. Some of the most impacted areas were areas where WFP had had resilience programs. As a result, the vast majority – 80% of villages located in highly affected areas – did not require humanitarian assistance.