Millions of people threatened: UN warn of hunger due to price increases

Around 270 million people suffer from hunger or are threatened by it. The World Food Program estimates that the situation will worsen massively. In many countries, food prices have risen enormously.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warns of food shortages for millions of people due to increased food prices.

Arif Husain, chief economist of the World Food Program, explained in Rome that armed conflicts, the effects of climate change and the corona crisis have already driven many people into hunger and misery. “Now food prices have joined the deadly trio.”

Highest increases in the Middle East

The prices have risen particularly in Lebanon and Syria. The average price for wheat in Lebanon from March to May 2021 was 50 percent higher than in the three months before. Compared to the same period in the previous year, it increased by 219 percent.

In Syria, edible oil cost 58 percent more from March to May than in the previous three months and as much as 440 percent compared to the previous year.

But even in Africa there are massive increases in food prices in some regions, such as in Mozambique, where armed conflicts are raging in the north of the country, said Husain. There, the price of cassava flour rose by 45 percent from March to May 2021.

These increases had a serious impact on millions of families on the verge of hunger, whose incomes had been severely weakened by the corona pandemic. For families who previously had to spend two thirds of their income on food, the loss of income due to the corona crisis had a devastating effect, said Husain.

Help costs are also increasing

The World Bank estimates that the pandemic could plunge up to 97 million people worldwide into extreme poverty by the end of 2021. But the World Food Program is also feeling the price increases, added Husain. The number of people who needed food aid was increasing, as was the cost of the aid.

For the Nobel Peace Prize winners, the aid operation this year is the largest in the history of the organization, with which the aid workers want to reach 139 million people worldwide.

It is estimated that around 270 million people will be acutely hungry or threatened by hunger in 2021 – an increase of 40 percent compared to the previous year.