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Nigeria, others saw largest food crisis in 2023, says report

Nigeria was among 10 countries with world’s largest food crisis in 2023   according to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2024.

The others were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Yemen, the Syrian Arab Republic, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar. They were in the same category in 2022 with the exception of Bangladesh, which replaced Ukraine in the list.

The report noted that last year over 281.6 million people across 59 countries/territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity requiring urgent assistance.

The figure represented the 21.5 per cent of the population of the countries considered.

Speaking during the presentation of the report, the Director-General, FAO,QU Dongyu warned that GRFC report should serve as a wake-up call, and ensure that countries don’t neglect the provision of agricultural aid in emergency situations.

The report showed that food crises are becoming increasingly protracted and underscored the risk that “hard-won development gains are being reversed” as food insecurity and malnutrition become a “new normal” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qu said.

FAO’s Director-General focused on that as showcasing how agricultural assistance, often deemed a slower-acting approach, should be scaled up in crisis situations.

Qu urged going beyond necessary direct distributions to find more sustainable solutions, in order to go beyond meeting humanitarian needs and reduce them.   Providing seeds, tools and livestock and the means to restart food production at scale is often the most cost-effective way to assure that food reaches the greatest number of people in hard-to-reach areas.

FAO’s Director-General called for multi-prong approach to help transform the world’s agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilience and more sustainable .

He emphasized the importance of tackling root causes by increasing agricultural support in emergencies.

The GRFC is a flagship report of the Global Network against Food Crises (GNAFC), facilitated by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN). The GNAFC is a coalition of development and humanitarian organisations united in their efforts to address food crises.