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Acute food insecurity is growing fueled by conflict, extreme weather, rising food prices
Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is seeking $1.9 billion in 2023 to save the lives and livelihoods of some of the most acutely food-insecure people, as acute food insecurity continues to escalate globally.
The announcement was made as part of a major United Nations humanitarian appeal launched by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at a special event in Geneva today.
With less than 4 percent of the $51.5 billion needed for all appeals for 2023, FAO can provide critical livelihood assistance to ensure that 48 million people have constant supplies of nutritious food. Through cash packages, vegetable crops and seeds, livestock feed, animal health campaigns, improvements to vital infrastructure such as irrigation systems and markets, FAO can ensure that families and communities in the most remote conflict-affected areas are able to feed themselves and lay the foundations for resistance to future shocks.
In 2022, FAO’s emergency support to drought-affected communities in the Horn of Africa protected vital livestock assets, ensuring that 4.4 million children have access to milk every day, leading to the production of over 100,000 tonnes of cereals and providing more than 1.5 million people have cash to buy food, health care and other essentials.
FAO’s interventions are primarily aimed at meeting the needs and priorities of the affected communities, who are predominantly farmers, fishermen, herders and foresters – enabling them to stay in their homes where it is safe, meet their own needs and lead their own future recovery.
The main drivers of acute food insecurity
Extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the proliferation of other conflicts, accompanied by growing uncertainty about global food and agricultural markets, are driving acute food insecurity to new highs. As 2022 draws to a close, nearly one million people face the imminent threat of hunger — nearly double the number in 2021. Worldwide, 222 million people experience high levels of acute food insecurity, with nearly one in five struggling to get enough food to survive of the day.
In the Horn of Africa alone, which is battling an unprecedented drought – an event not seen in 40 years – between 23 and 26 million people are predicted to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and acute food insecurity is expected to continue to intensify until February 2023 due to the expected sixth consecutive season of unprecedented drought.
Food costs have been rising steadily since the onset of COVID-19, and international food prices were already at a ten-year high before the war in Ukraine sent additional shocks through the system. While international staple food prices have recently declined, consumer prices remain high with significant implications for purchasing power and access to food among the poorest.
Conflict and political instability continue to devastate lives and livelihoods around the world, forcing people to flee their homes and abandon their farms, boats, livestock, pushing them into destitution and complete reliance on outside aid.
FAO is stepping up its response to crises and emergencies
FAO has stepped up its efforts to reach those most in need in 2022 — helping 30 million people with critical support, focusing on rural populations and those for whom agriculture is the only means of survival.
In Afghanistan alone, FAO expects to reach 9 million people by the end of the year — about half of the rural population experiencing high acute food insecurity. About 3.6 million people will benefit from the ongoing distribution of winter wheat, which will be completed by December.
In Somalia, over $24 million in cash, with livelihood assistance, has been provided to rural communities most at risk of famine, while more than 11 million livestock have received food, water and basic health care.
In Ukraine, in addition to providing emergency agricultural support to farmers, such as seed potatoes, vegetable seeds and cash aid, FAO is intensifying efforts to protect existing and upcoming harvests and food reserves. FAO has provided a huge storage capacity of up to 6 million tons of grain (about 30 percent of the national requirement). This assistance is essential to ensure that grain is properly stored and that farmers are able to sell and export grain when needed.
Emergency agriculture remains largely underfunded
Agriculture is a humanitarian response on the front line and must be considered as such in all humanitarian appeals. Emergency agricultural interventions, especially when combined with cash and food aid, have a huge impact on food availability, nutrition and displacement, significantly reducing other humanitarian costs.
For example, at just $220, the packages of winter wheat distributed in Afghanistan will allow a family to produce enough food to meet their annual grain needs and leave a surplus to sell.
In 2022, FAO received only 43 percent of the funding requested under humanitarian response plans, but this masks a huge funding imbalance, with appeals for Afghanistan fully funded, while those for Nigeria and the Syrian Arab Republic barely exceeded 10 percent of requests.
Today’s event in Geneva was one of three consecutive launches to launch the Global Humanitarian Review 2023 (GHO), followed by events in Addis Ababa in partnership with the African Union and Riyadh in partnership with the King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid and Relief – KS Relief.
Contact
Irina Utkina
FAO News and Media (Rome)
+39657052542
irina.utkina@fao.org
FAO news and media
(+39) 06 570 53625
FAO-Newsroom@fao.org
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