As a result of several years of drought and inflation, famine is knocking on the door of 45 countries around the world. These countries urgently need food aid in the coming months, FAO warns. There are 33 African countries in this group.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released on Friday the report “Crop Prospects and Food Situation”, a quarterly publication of the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS). According to the report, world food prices continued to decline in September for the sixth consecutive month. In addition, the UN agency warns that “45 countries, including 33 in Africa, nine in Asia, two in Latin America and the Caribbean and one in Europe need external food aid.
This alarming situation is the consequence of several natural and economic phenomena: drought in East Africa, galloping inflation in the world and the depreciation of currencies. These factors aggravate food insecurity. On the African continent, according to the FAO, the countries most affected by this situation are Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Cameroon and Niger. However, the report also states that more than 17 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection in Ukraine due to the war.
As the Horn of Africa faces the worst drought due to four missed rainy seasons since late 2020, “parts of Somalia are at risk of famine if humanitarian assistance is not intensified,” the FAO says. Indeed, in this part of the continent, insufficient water and pasture resources have caused the death of millions of livestock and destroyed crops. “These significant and widespread rainfall deficits are expected to result in reduced harvests in East Africa, particularly in Somalia and parts of Ethiopia and Kenya,” the organization warned.
On the other hand, in West Africa, the situation remains worrying in Burkina Faso due to insecurity in the north, a deficit in cereal production and high food prices. In Niger, the situation is tense because of the consequences of insecurity and the deficit in cereal production.
Overall, coarse grain prices more than doubled in the 12 months prior to August 2022 in Mali and Burkina Faso. And in Niger, prices have increased by 40%. “Poor security conditions in all three countries being a key factor behind these sharp increases,” FAO insisted.
Last September, a UN report warned that nearly one million people worldwide are threatened by “catastrophic hunger” and could die in the coming months if humanitarian aid is not provided. A record number due to the devastating drought in the Horn of Africa, the war in Ukraine and the strength of the US dollar.
