United Nations relief agencies warned on Friday that rising prices have helped fuel a food crisis in West and Central Africa, where about 55 million people will struggle to provide food in the coming months.
The agencies said that the number of those facing hunger, during the poor crop season from June to August, increased fourfold over the past five years, noting that economic challenges such as inflation that exceeded 10 percent and stagnant domestic production have become major drivers of the crisis along with recurring conflicts in the region.
The World Food Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in a joint statement that among the most affected countries were Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mali.
“The time to act is now,” said Margot Vandervelden, WFP's acting regional director for West Africa. “We need all partners to act…to prevent the situation from getting out of control.”
Due to food shortages, malnutrition is alarmingly high, the agencies said, and they estimated that 16.7 million children under the age of five were suffering from acute malnutrition across West and Central Africa.
The region's heavy reliance on food imports has caused growing pressures, especially for countries battling high inflation rates such as Ghana and Sierra Leone.
Robert Joy, FAO's regional coordinator for West Africa, said that policies should be implemented to strengthen and diversify local food production “to respond to unprecedented food and nutrition insecurity.”
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