The WFP warns that an additional 1 million people could become affected by the hunger crisis in Somalia

The World Food Programme warned on Tuesday that a predicted drought during the next crop cycle might cause one million more Somalians to experience crisis levels of hunger in the months ahead.

According to Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the WFP’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service, the figure may increase even more as a result of funding cuts.

Following a series of rainy season failures, the Horn of Africa had its driest conditions in over 40 years in 2022, killing up to 43,000 people, according to one study.

According to a recent report, there are approximately 3.4 million individuals in Somalia who are severely food insecure. Regarding phase three and higher in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, Bauer predicted that number will increase to roughly 4.4 million in the next months.

While phase four is considered an emergency and phase five is considered a catastrophe or famine, phase three is characterized as crisis levels of hunger.

According to him, following two unsuccessful seasons, below-normal rainfall is predicted between April and June 2025, which could lead to drought conditions.

According to current estimates, approximately 1.7 million children under the age of five are anticipated to experience acute malnutrition through December 2025, as hunger often affects children the most, the World Food Program said in a statement. It further stated that 466,000 of them suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

According to Bauer, the WFP has already had to reduce the number of individuals it helps, now providing aid to only 820,000 people nationwide as opposed to 2.2 million during a high period in 2022.

In answer to inquiries from reporters, he noted that any financial reductions from the United States as part of a historic aid retrenchment under President Donald Trump had not been taken into account.

“So the situation could get worse for both of those reasons: the weather forecast, the funding cuts and in addition to everything that’s going on in Somalia, which includes relatively high food prices and also conflict,” he stated.