Most food insecure people are located in Nigeria, where about 12.8 million people need urgent food assistance, followed by Burkina Faso (2.8 million), Niger (2.3 million), Chad and Sierra Leone (1.8 million in each country) and Mali (1.3 million), according to Quarterly Global Report from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) titled “Crop Prospects And Food Situation”
FAO assesses that globally 45 countries, including 34 in Africa, 9 in Asia and 2 in Latin America and the Caribbean, are in need of external assistance for food. Conflicts and climate-related shocks continue to underpin the high levels of severe food insecurity.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily in terms of income losses, have exacerbated vulnerabilities and heightened existing levels of food insecurity.
Nigeria – Persisting conflict in Northern areas
According to the latest “Cadre Harmonisé” analysis (CH analysis), about 12.8 million people are assessed to be in need of humanitarian assistance in the June−August 2021 period as a result of worsening conflict that is driving new population displacements, especially in the North East, North West and North Central regions.
Over 2.8 million people are estimated to be internally displaced in northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, due to communal clashes in northwestern/northcentral zones and natural disasters. The areas inaccessible to humanitarian interventions are facing the worst food insecurity conditions.
Persistent insecurity in northeast Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin, northern and central Mali, northeastern Burkina Faso and western and eastern Niger, continues to severely affect agricultural activities and hinder farmers’ access to fields and agricultural inputs, curbing overall production expectations in the affected areas.
Following poor main harvests in southern parts of East Africa, production prospects are more positive in northern countries, on account of favourable weather. Outlooks are mixed in West African and Central African countries, where less-than-favourable rainfall forecasts and persisting conflicts are impairing production prospects.
The bulk of the main season harvests were completed in North Africa and Southern Africa, and outputs are estimated at above-average levels.
Africa Countries in need of external assistance for food (Lists)
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Djibouti
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Guinea
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Uganda
- United Republic of Tanzania
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe