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Severe food insecurity widespread in Yemen


Joint FAO-WFP news release

21 June 2016, Rome/Sana'a - Vast swathes of Yemen - 19 out of 22 governorates - are facing severe food insecurity according to a new joint  assessment by the UN and partners, which warns that the situation within affected areas is likely to deteriorate if conflict persists.

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis confirms that over half the country's population is living in "crisis" or "emergency" levels of food insecurity, with some governorates seeing as much as 70 percent of their population struggling to feed themselves.

At least 7 million people - a quarter of the population - are living under Emergency levels of food insecurity (Phase 4 on the five-tiered IPC scale). This reflects a 15-percent increase since June 2015. A further 7.1 million people are in a state of Crisis (Phase 3).

"The IPC results clearly show the huge magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen," said Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. "This is one of the worst crises in the world and is continuing to get worse. Conflict has taken a very heavy toll on the country and its people, exacerbated widespread vulnerability and virtually destroyed household coping mechanisms. As a result, food insecurity, remains unacceptably high."

Drivers of food insecurity 

Major drivers of food insecurity include fuel shortages and import restrictions that have reduced availability of essential food commodities in the country, which imports some 90 percent of its staple foods. Food and fuel imports in March 2016 were the lowest since October 2015 and satisfied only 12 percent of the country's fuel needs.




"We managed to provide support across the most affected governorates under these challenging conditions, but ongoing conflict, displacement and limited access to farmland and fishing sites continue to cause significant losses to agriculture and threaten farmers' livelihoods," stressed FAO's Yemen Representative Salah El Hajj Hassan. "With access to many staple foods limited through import and transport restrictions, helping communities feed themselves through back-yard farming and small poultry production, among other interventions, is essential now."

"With the fluidity of the situation and until a political solution is in place, we will continue to see an increase in the number of people struggling to feed themselves and their families and further deterioration in food security across Yemen," said Purnima Kashyap, WFP Representative and Country Director. "We appeal to all parties to ensure unrestricted access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected people."






"From January to 30 April 2016, about 3.6 million people received emergency food assistance, but the overall response is significantly underfunded," said McGoldrick. "I urgently appeal to donors to increase humanitarian funding so that more food assistance can be delivered to millions of other people in urgent need."



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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists 80 million people in around 80 countries. For more information visit: www.wfp.org or follow WFP on Twitter @WFP_Media.    

Photo: ©WFP Asmaa Waguih
At least 7 million people across Yemen are living under Emergency levels of food insecurity. A further 7.1 million people are in a state of Crisis, according to the latest assessment.

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