In the upcoming months, a food crisis brought on by rising prices will affect over 55 million people in central and western Africa, UN agencies have warned.
This Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the UNICEF jointly announced that more people have gone hungry in the last five years during the season of shortage, which runs from June to August. The number of years has increased fourfold.
Economic challenges such as double-digit inflation and stagnant local production have become the main causes of the crisis, along with current conflicts in the region.
He also said that Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mali would be among the most affected countries.
United Nations agencies said prices of the region’s major grains continued to rise, from 10% to more than 100% above the five-year average.
The situation is particularly worrying in northern Mali, where some 2,600 people are at risk of catastrophic famine, he added.
“Now is the time to act. We need action from all partners… to prevent the situation from spiralling out of control,” said Margot Vandervelden, WFP Acting Regional Director for West Africa.
“We need to invest more in building resilience and long-term solutions for West Africa’s future,” he added.
Malnourished children
Food shortages also cause “alarming” levels of malnutrition and children are severely affected.
Agencies report that eight in 10 children between the ages of six and 23 months do not consume the minimum amount of nutrition necessary for optimal growth and development.