A report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, (FAO), of the United Nations (UN) and the World Food Programme (WFP), has predicted that about 13 million people in Northern Nigeria would experience acute food insecurity by August this year.
The report: ‘Hunger hotspots – FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity: March to July 2021 outlook’, was released recently to issue an early warning to 20 countries recognised as hotspots, where parts of the populations are at risk of acute food insecurity.
For Nigeria, the report highlighted issues such as the inter-communal crisis, which led to multiple displacements and destruction of livelihoods that have worsened the possibility of food security.
The report highlighted that in the conflict-affected areas of Northern Nigeria, the situation is extremely concerning given the marked deterioration of food security conditions despite the recent harvest.
It noted that the majority of people with critical food insecurity were in Borno State, as a result of heavy constraints to humanitarian access and on-going conflict.
Apart from Nigeria, other countries at risk include Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Sudan, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, and Zimbabwe
However, Yemen, South Sudan, and Northern Nigeria represent the highest alert level with a risk of famine.
