Food insecurity strains deepen amid civil conflict and drought by UN Food and Agriculture Organization 4:09pm 7th Mar, 2017   March 2017    Global harvests strong but hunger persists amid chronic conflict zones - Food security emergencies are likely to increase.    Global food supply conditions are robust, but access to food has been dramatically reduced in areas suffering civil conflicts, while drought conditions are worsening food security across swathes of East Africa, according to the new edition of FAO''s Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.    Some 37 countries require external assistance for food, 28 of them in Africa as a result of lingering effects of last year''s El Niño-triggered droughts on harvests in 2016. Yet, while agricultural production is expected to rebound in southern Africa, protracted fighting and unrest is increasing the ranks of the displaced and hungry in other parts of the world.    Famine has been formally declared in South Sudan and the food security situation is of grave concern in northern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen.    “This is an unprecedented situation. Never before have we been faced with 4 threats of famine in multiple countries simultaneously,” said FAO Assistant Director-General Kostas Stamoulis, head of the Economic and Social Development department.    “It demands swift action which should consist of immediate food assistance but also livelihood support to ensure that such situations are not repeated.”    In South Sudan, 100,000 people were facing famine in Leer and Mayendit Counties, part of former Unity State, while there was an "elevated risk" that similar conditions existed in two nearby counties. Overall, about 4.9 million people across the country were classified as facing crisis, emergency or famine. That number is projected to increase to 5.5 million, or almost half the country''s population, at the peak of the lean season in July.    In northern Nigeria, 8.1 million people are facing acute food insecurity conditions and require urgent life-saving response and livelihood protection. That comes despite the above-average cereal harvest in 2016 and reflects the disruption caused by conflict as well as the sharp depreciation of the Naira.    In Yemen, 17 million people or two-thirds of the population are estimated to be food insecure, while almost half of them are in need of emergency assistance, with the report noting that "the risk of famine declaration in the country is very high."    In Somalia, the combination of conflict, civil insecurity and drought have resulted in more than double the number of people - now estimated at 2.9 million - being severely food insecure from six months ago. Drought has curtailed fodder for pastoralists and the third consecutive season of poor rainfall is estimated to have reduced crop production in southern and central regions to 70 percent below average levels, leaving food stocks depleted.    Conflicts and civil unrest in Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Myanmar and Syria are also exacerbating food insecurity conditions for millions of people as well affecting nearby countries hosting refugees. In addition, the drought in East Africa in late 2016 has heightened food insecurity in several countries in the sub-region.    Worldwide trends    Cereal production made strong gains in the world overall in 2016, with a record recovery in Central America, and larger cereal crops in Asia, Europe and North America.    Looking ahead, FAO''s first global wheat production forecast for 2017 points to a 1.8 percent decline from last year''s record level, due mostly to a projected 20 percent output drop in the United States of America, where the area sown to winter wheat is the lowest level in over 100 years.    Prospects are favourable for the 2017 maize crop in Brazil and Argentina and the outlook is generally positive for coarse grains throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Prospects for rice are mixed, but it is still too early to make firm predictions for many of the world''s major crops.    Maize harvests in Southern Africa, slashed by El Niño, are forecast to recover somewhat this year, with South Africa''s output expected to increase by more than 50 percent from 2016, with positive trends likely in most nearby countries. However, an outbreak of armyworms, along with localized flooding in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, could limit production gains in 2017.    The 37 countries currently in need of external food assistance are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People''s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.    http://www.fao.org/giews/country-analysis/external-assistance/en/    * June 2017 FEWS-Net report: http://bit.ly/2sgrDXN http://bit.ly/2s89Kyd    March 2017: FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation report: http://bit.ly/2nkSdwS    June update: http://bit.ly/2sMS8Wi http://www.fao.org/emergencies/en/    March 2017 (Reuters)    The number of people facing severe hunger worldwide has surpassed 100 million and will grow if humanitarian aid is not paired with more support for farmers, a senior United Nations official said.    Dominique Burgeon, director of the emergency division at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said latest studies showed 102 million people faced acute malnutrition - meaning they were on the brink of starvation - in 2016, up almost 30 percent from 80 million in 2015.    The hike was mainly driven by deepening crises in Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia, where conflict and drought have crippled food production, he said.    "Humanitarian assistance has kept many people alive so far but their food security situation has continued to deteriorate," Burgeon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.    More investment is needed to help people feed themselves by farming crops and livestock, he added.    "We come with airplanes, we provide food assistance and we manage to keep them alive but we do not invest enough in the livelihood of these people," he said.    "We avoid them falling into famine but we are not good at taking them off the cliff, away from food insecurity."    The U.N. World Food Programme said last month more than 20 million people - greater than the population of Romania or Florida - risk dying from starvation within six months in four separate famines.    Wars in Yemen, northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan have devastated households and driven up prices, while a drought in east Africa has ruined the agricultural economy.    Famine was formally declared in February in parts of South Sudan, which has been mired in civil war since 2013.    In northeastern Nigeria, once a breadbasket for the country, a seven-year insurgency by Boko Haram militants has uprooted some 1.8 million people, forcing many to abandon their farms.    The government says it has clawed back most of the territory it lost to the jihadist group and tens of thousands of refugees are hoping to return to their crops, although security remains a concern.    Burgeon said the FAO had raised less than a third of the $20 million it needs within the next two weeks to support almost 2 million people in the upcoming planting season in Nigeria - an investment he said would save money in the future.    "If you don''t support those who want to return to their area to crop then you have to agree that you will have to provide massive aid assistance at least until the harvest in 2018, which is unbearable," he said.    Lack of funding was also hampering the agency''s response in Syria, where food production dropped to an all-time low in 2016, Burgeon said.    "A lot is going to food assistance and barely anything is going to help farmers who have decided to stay on their land," he said.    The soaring cost of seeds, fertilisers and tractor fuel was pushing many farmers to leave, making it more difficult to restart the economy once peace or stability returned, he added.    "What we need to do is to help them stay and crop their land and be there for the future," Burgeon said. "To survive is not enough." http://tmsnrt.rs/2mPB7aL http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/108-million-people-world-face-severe-food-insecuritysituation-worsening    * Access the FAO report: http://bit.ly/2nU16RD Visit the related web page
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