Nigeria among hunger spot countries with highest alert — FAO, WFP

Olaseinde Gbenga

An acute food insecurity report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has listed Nigeria, Ethopia, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia among the hunger spot countries with ‘highest alert’ for catastrophic conditions.

According to the report, the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the already steadily rising food and energy prices worldwide, which are already affecting economic stability across all regions, noting that the effects are expected to be particularly acute where economic instability and skyrocketing prices are combined with drops in food production due to climate shocks in the form of recurrent droughts or flooding.

Speaking on the development, the Director General of FAO, Qu Dongyu, said, “We are deeply concerned about the combined impacts of overlapping crises jeopardising people’s ability to produce and access foods, pushing millions more into extreme levels of acute food insecurity.

“We are in a race against time to help farmers in the most affected countries, including by rapidly increasing potential food production and boosting their resilience in the face of challenges.”

Also, the Executive Director of WFP, Mr. David Beasley, stated that, “We are facing a perfect storm that is not just going to hurt the poorest of the poor, it’s also going to overwhelm millions of families who until now have just about kept their heads above water.

“Conditions now are much worse than during the Arab Spring in 2011 and 2007-2008 food price crisis, when 48 countries were rocked by political unrest, riots and protests.

“We’ve already seen what’s happening in Indonesia, Pakistan, Peru, and Sri Lanka , that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We have solutions. But we need to act, and act fast.”