UN Agencies Flag Worsening Food Emergencies in Parts of Africa and Beyond
A fresh joint alert from the UN’s food agencies warns that millions of people across several low-income and conflict-affected countries face sharply worsening food shortages in the coming months with parts of West Africa singled out alongside crisis zones in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and the Caribbean.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) say competing drivers violent conflict, economic collapse, and extreme weather are squeezing households’ ability to buy or grow food and pushing acute malnutrition and displacement to new highs.
The warning highlights that some of the most severe situations are unfolding where fighting blocks humanitarian access and markets have collapsed. The agencies identify a handful of countries where the threat of catastrophic hunger including conditions consistent with famine is immediate unless lifesaving assistance reaches those in need.
They also note a larger group of places where acute food insecurity is expected to intensify because of deteriorating security, rising prices, reduced harvest or a toxic mix of those factors.
In West Africa, authorities and analysts point to northern and central areas where localised violence has displaced farming families, interrupted seasonal planting and driven up staple costs. The report places particular emphasis on states where protracted insurgencies and banditry have eroded livelihoods, making it harder for already-vulnerable households to cope.
Local media and humanitarian briefings also single out Sahelian countries where markets are thin and food imports unaffordable.
The UN agencies stress that prevention still works — but the window for action is narrowing.
They call for rapid scale-up of funding for emergency food, nutrition and agricultural support to stabilise harvests and help families keep producing food where possible.
The agencies also urge warring parties to allow safe humanitarian corridors and for the international community to prioritise diplomacy that reduces access constraints.
Without those measures, the report warns, pockets of mass hunger and excess mortality could become much more widespread.
Humanitarian actors say the public and private donors must respond immediately to blunt what would otherwise be a dramatic rise in suffering.
For countries already juggling displacement, poverty and climate shocks, the choice is stark: step up assistance now or risk irreparable damage to child nutrition, community resilience, and regional stability.
