Number of people at emergency food insecurity levels increases 20 per cent in nine months

Figure: Humanitarian access in Yemen may be soon limited to a few kilometres around main towns, leaving rural communities in dire need of aid.

15 March 2017, Sana'a/Amman -Severe food insecurity threatens more than 17 million people in conflict-ridden Yemen, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released by the United Nations and humanitarian partners today.

Twenty of the country's 22 governorates are in ‘emergency' or ‘crisis' food insecurity phases and almost two-thirds of the population are now facing hunger and urgently require life and livelihood-saving assistance.  Without additional humanitarian and livelihoods support, Taiz and Al Hudaydah, two governorates accounting for almost a quarter of Yemen's population, risk slipping into famine.

With an estimated 17 million people at ‘emergency' or ‘crisis' levels of food insecurity, Yemen is  currently one of the worst hunger crises in the world. These numbers represent a 21 percent increase since June 2016 and underscores the findings of the February 2017 Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment.

Conflict is driving food insecurity

The conflict has had a devastating impact on food security and livelihoods. Almost 80 per cent of households in Yemen report having a worse economic situation than before the crisis. The decrease in domestic production, disruption of commercial and humanitarian imports, increasing food and fuel prices, rampant unemployment, loss of income, relatively low levels of funding for UN agencies providing food assistance and the collapse of public services and social safety nets are all factors contributing to a worsening food security situation.

Taiz and Al Hudaydah, traditionally food producing governorates, have been the focus of intense violence in the two years since the current crisis escalated.

These two governorates have the highest rates of global acute malnutrition in the country, ranging from 17 per cent in Taiz City to 25 percent in Al Hudaydah. The emergency threshold set by the World Health Organization is 15 percent.

"The conflict has a devastating impact on agricultural livelihoods. Crop and livestock production fell significantly compared to pre-crisis levels," said Salah Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative in Yemen. "It is absolutely essential that the humanitarian response encompass food and agriculture assistance to save not only lives but also livelihoods."

See more: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/522843/icode/