Acute Food Insecurity To Increase in Colombia, Haiti, Guatemala

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) warned that acute food insecurity will increase in 23 countries in the next four months.

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In Latin America, the food situation will worsen in Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador. Violence, conflict, climate change, and economic crisis will likely remain the main drivers of acute food insecurity.

Food insecurity will also increase in Afghanistan, Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Central Sahel, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

FAO and WFP lamented that efforts to combat a global surge in acute food insecurity are often hampered by political tensions and blockages, preventing families on the brink of famine from receiving assistance.

The tweet reads, "Wake up Colombia. It is the time of the peoples."

Bureaucratic hurdles and lack of funding also slow UN agencies' efforts to provide emergency food assistance and enable farmers to plant at the right time.

"The vast majority of those in distress are farmers. In addition to food assistance, we must do all we can to help them resume food production on their own, so that families and communities can return to self-sufficiency and not rely only on aid for survival," FAO Director Qu Dongyu said.

UN agencies warned that 41 million people are at risk of famine unless they receive immediate food and livelihood assistance. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of food insecure people worldwide increased from 135 million to 155 million. And the situation is expected to worsen this year