West Africa is on the brink of its worst food crisis in a decade. Eleven international aid organizations – including Oxfam, Save the Children and World Vision – announced this on Tuesday in the run-up to the EU conference on the food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel.
The organizations said they were concerned that the war in Ukraine would exacerbate the already dire situation in West Africa. Many donor countries have indicated that they can cut funding to Africa to use the money for the Ukraine crisis. Nearly 40 million people in West Africa could soon go hungry.
The situation before the war was already extremely precarious
More than 27 million people are already starving in the region and an additional 11 million could join them by June. According to the 11 aid organizations, a third more people are suffering from hunger than in the previous year. The United Nations (UN) estimates that 6.3 million children in the region between the ages of six months and five years will be acutely malnourished.
The main reasons for the decline in grain production are droughts, floods, conflicts and the economic impact of the corona pandemic. Food prices in West Africa have risen by as much as 30 percent in the past five years.
Wheat from war zones is missing
Now the war in Ukraine is making the situation worse: according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food prices could rise by 20 percent worldwide. In addition, the crisis is expected to lead to a significant drop in wheat availability for many African countries, which import much of their wheat from Russia or Ukraine.
Drought causes problems
The worst drought in 40 years is also currently threatening the livelihoods of millions of people in the Horn of Africa. More than 13 million people are at risk of starvation in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to the UN.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
