Several areas south of Sudan capital at risk of famine, says World Food Programme
GENEVA, June 10 (Reuters) - Several areas south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, are at risk of famine, the World Food Programme said on Tuesday, with need on the ground outstripping resources amidst a funding shortfall.
"The level of hunger and destitution and desperation that was found (is) severe and confirmed the risk of famine in those areas," Laurent Bukera, WFP Country Director in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan.
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Reuters
10-06-2025
- Reuters
Several areas south of Sudan capital at risk of famine, says World Food Programme
GENEVA, June 10 (Reuters) - Several areas south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, are at risk of famine, the World Food Programme said on Tuesday, with need on the ground outstripping resources amidst a funding shortfall. "The level of hunger and destitution and desperation that was found (is) severe and confirmed the risk of famine in those areas," Laurent Bukera, WFP Country Director in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan.
The Independent
09-06-2025
- The Independent
Aid cuts put vital work to protect millions in Ethiopia from climate crisis at risk
Ahead of the rainy season in the Somali region of Ethiopia, 46-year-old Habiba Abdulahi knew that something was not right. The moisture that is usually present in the air at that time was absent. Fearing the devastating impact of a drought, the mother of 10 was worried about what would happen to her family of 10 children and the herd of 20 goats she relied on for money and food. But Abdulahi had been selected by the World Food Programme (WFP) for a programme known as 'Drought Anticipatory Action', which gave her access to early warning systems, support meetings, and cash transfers to help insulate from the growing impact of the climate crisis. 'We were selected because of our vulnerability... We cannot fight nature, but we can be prepared and protect ourselves from what is to come,' she said at the time. 'In the sessions, we learned how to save feed for our animals, and food for our families,' she continued. 'With the cash received, I purchased food and animal feed for our livestock, and we have also cultivated crops.' Four months later, the family remained healthy and well, and their livestock was still alive. 'The support came at the right time. We only had shower rain, and then there was a complete drought,' she said. 'The livestock that can travel, we took them to areas with better pasture, but those that cannot travel remained with us... We are striving to manage this critical time.' Abdulahi knows how important the help she received was, but now others might not be so lucky. Countries including the US, UK, Germany, and France have all announced significant aid cuts in recent months, meaning that by the start of June 2025, only a little more than 10 per cent - or $4.9 billion - of the estimated $46.18bn in global humanitarian aid required this year had been secured, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Independent has previously reported on how the funding cuts by Donald Trump could cost millions of lives over the next five years, while the drop in UK aid could leave 12 million people without access to clean water or sanitation and result in 2.9 million fewer children in education 'Saving lives and protecting livelihoods' Anticipatory Action is a programme of activities that is designed to foster resilience and help communities deal with the financial 'shock' of extreme climate events, by supporting people before disaster strikes, and avoiding the need to provide emergency humanitarian aid at a later point. 'The goal is really to reduce the impact on vulnerable populations by saving lives and protecting livelihoods ahead of the shock,' explains Robert Ackatia-Armah, deputy country director for WFP Ethiopia. As weather patterns become more extreme globally, Anticipatory Action has become a core part of how the WFP is working to address the climate crisis. The programme was first launched in 2015, and is now operational in 24 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In Ethiopia specifically, during the rainy season of February to May this year, around one million people received early warning messages and 150,000 people received cash transfers in the drought-prone Somali and Oromia regions. They are some of the estimated 19 million Ethiopians who live in drought-prone regions. 'We respond to droughts, floods and cyclones, providing early warning systems, financial support, and land management advice in the days, weeks and sometimes even months ahead of the climate shock, based on the predictability of the information that we have,' says Ackatia-Armah. 'The idea is that we cannot prevent the shock from happening, but we can prevent the humanitarian cost and caseload by intervening in advance.' 'The most severe needs' However, thanks to aid cuts, agencies in charge of distributing money are having to focus on emergency humanitarian aid over programmes like Anticipatory Action or other activities that prioritise longer-term climate resilience. 'Country Teams are further prioritising their humanitarian appeals and responses to ensure that the people with the most severe needs are assisted first,' said UN OCHA in its most recent update. Ironically, responding to a humanitarian catastrophe will always be more expensive than an anticipatory response, says Ackatia-Armah. And if WFP Ethiopia was no longer able to provide anticipatory support, which would lead to more families losing their livelihoods and being forced to migrate, then the country's emergency humanitarian aid costs could balloon. While the agency has funding for the February to May rainy season, there is currently 'no confidence or certainty that we will get money for anticipatory action in Ethiopia's next rainy season,' says Ackatia-Armah, who adds that he is 'very worried' about the future. A number of regions of Ethiopia, particularly in the south face another wet season from October to December. 'If we're not able to provide early warning messages, or support in rangeland management, then people will lose their herds,' Ackatia-Armah continues. 'It will then take a huge amount of resources for communities to be restored.' The threat to funding comes as the effects of the climate crisis becomes ever more severely-felt in Ethiopia. Rainfall is becoming more erratic, and droughts more severe, with the 2020 to 2023 Horn of Africa drought leading to 20 million people experiencing acute food insecurity, and 13m livestock dying across Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Abiy Wogderes, a geographic information system expert at WFP Ethiopia, sees the escalating climate challenge more clearly than most people. He studies weather forecasts from different weather agencies in order to make the drought predictions that form the basis of Anticipatory Action in Ethiopia. 'Every day at work we are witnessing climate change,' he says. 'Weather patterns are becoming much more challenging, especially over the past ten years.' Wogderes says that the systems they have in place can continue to provide support to communities in need – but only if funding is not taken away. 'Technology advancements have made Anticipatory Action incredibly accurate. We now have tailored models for drought and flooding prediction, and we have very strong momentum,' he says. 'But unfortunately all of this is now under threat due to cuts, which is very frustrating.'
The Independent
13-05-2025
- The Independent
Nigeria has a food security problem as water for crops is harder to find
After two decades of working his farm in northwestern Nigeria, Umaru Muazu now struggles to find water for his crops. A murky puddle is all that remains of a river near his 5-hectare farm and those of others in this community in arid Sokoto state. Because the 62-year-old Muazu can't afford to dig a well to keep crops like millet and maize from withering, he might abandon farming. 'Before, with a small farm, you could get a lot," he said. Climate change is challenging agriculture in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. With long dry spells and extreme heat, water bodies are drying because the arid season is becoming longer than usual. The wet season, though it can dump excessive rain, is short. It's fresh pain in a country where the World Food Program says 31 million people already face food insecurity. Efforts to recover from one climate shock are overlapped by the next, said WFP spokesperson Chi Lael. The challenges faced by farmers in the north, who account for most of what Nigeria eats, are affecting food prices and availability in the booming coastal south that's home to the megacity of Lagos. More than 80% of Nigeria's farmers are smallholder farmers, who account for 90% of the country's annual agricultural production. Some work their fields with little more than a piece of roughly carved wood and their bare hands. Farmers are facing low yields because the government has failed to develop infrastructure like dams to help mitigate the effects of climate change, said Daniel Obiora, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria. There is little data available on the drying-up of smaller water bodies across the north. But farmers say the trend has been worsening. In Adamawa state, water scarcity caused by higher temperatures and changing rain patterns has affected over 1,250 hectares (3,088 acres) of farmland, disrupting food supply and livelihoods, Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said last year. Over-extraction of water and deforestation are other factors contributing to northern Nigeria's drying rivers, according to Abdulsamad Isah, co-founder of local Extension Africa nonprofit that often works with farmers. Elsewhere in Sokoto state, Nasiru Bello tilled his farm to cultivate onions without assurance of a meaningful harvest. With nearby rivers and wells drying up, he has resorted to pumping groundwater for the farm that provides the sole income for his family of 26. But the cost of pumping amid soaring gas prices has become unbearable. 'The plants do not grow well as it did,' he said. Nigeria is forecast to become the world's third most populous nation by 2025, alongside the United States and after India and China. With Nigeria's population expected to reach 400 million by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has been encouraging climate-smart agriculture to help ensure food security, including drip irrigation, which delivers water slowly and directly to roots and helps conserve water, instead of traditional irrigation systems that flood entire fields. 'There should be more orientation for farmers about climate change,' said Yusuf Isah Sokoto, director of the College of Environmental Science at Sokoto's Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic. At least two-thirds of the trees in the state have been lost due to deforestation, contributing to rising temperatures, Sokoto said. Data from the government-run statistics agency show that local agriculture contributed 22% of Nigeria's GDP in the second quarter of 2024, down from 25% in the previous quarter. While the trend has fluctuated in recent years, experts have said agricultural production still does not reflect growing government investment in the sector. Household food imports, meanwhile, rose by 136% from 2023 to 2024, government statistics show. The decreasing farm yields are being felt elsewhere in Nigeria, especially the south. In Lagos, the price of several items grown in the north have nearly doubled in the last two years, partly due to decreasing supplies. A head of cabbage grown in the north is selling for 2,000 naira ($1.2), nearly double its price a year ago and more than five times the price in Sokoto. Nigerian authorities acknowledge the problem. Many farmers who once harvested up to 10 tons are hardly able to get half that these days, agriculture minister Aliyu Abdullahi said earlier this year. Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu and his government have touted agriculture as a means for economic prosperity. Shortly after he took office in May 2023, Tinubu's government declared a food security state of emergency and announced plans to activate 500,000 hectares of farmland in Nigeria's land banks, which are mostly in the north. The land banks, however, are yet to be activated. ___ For more on Africa and development: The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
