1.5 million people still risk severe food insecurity until the end of 2014
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Juba—The combined efforts of the Food
and Agriculture Org. (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme and Mercy
Corps have helped to pull 2 million people back from the brink of famine and
severe food insecurity in South Sudan.
Since
May 2014, some of the worst-affected counties of Unity—one of South Sudan's 10
states—reached by humanitarian assistance have improved from an Integrated Food
Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 4 (Emergency) to IPC Phase 3
(Crisis). The IPC consists of five phases that classify the levels of food
insecurity people are facing, beginning with Phase 1 (Minimal) and Phase 5
(Famine).
This
progress, however, is fragile, partial, temporary and expensive. Despite
current short-term improvements, 1.5 million people are projected to remain
severely food insecure until the end of 2014, which is a fifty percent increase
from December 2013. The baseline of people in need is higher than last year and
the figure is set to increase as the dry season intensifies in early next year
when the number of people in Crisis or Emergency phases of food insecurity is
predicted to be 2.5 million people.
FAO
has already reached over 1.5 million people (250,000+ households) with more
than 400,000 emergency livelihood kits. FAO continues to strengthen its work in
less-affected areas to protect food production, availability and access with
the aim of boosting national food production in 2015.
There
is a short window of opportunity to mitigate a large-scale humanitarian
emergency in 2015. FAO South Sudan is urgently seeking US$48 million
to maintain and expand current operations and to procure and pre-position
supplies needed for early 2015.
FAO
continues to provide crucial food security information, analysis and
coordination in South Sudan and is a leading partner in the IPC process.
The latest IPC report was endorsed by the Government of the Republic of South
Sudan today and can be found at http://www.ipcinfo.org/.
The
newly released IPC analysis highlights that seasonal patterns also have
contributed to a temporary improvement in food security across South Sudan,
particularly in areas not affected by conflict. The seasonal availability of
crops, livestock products, fish and wild foods has improved thanks to normal
rainfall, and good crop planting and performance in less affected areas, and
owing to the start of the green harvest in late August. At the same time, local
communities have relied heavily on their families and neighbors for support,
sharing their limited resources.
"Ever
since the beginning of the crisis, the people of South Sudan have done what
they always do, which is work so hard to survive. To find ways of harvesting
wild foods, of accessing markets, of selling and slaughtering their
livestock", according to Sue Lautze, FAO Representative and the UN's
Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator.
"Normally
this is the season of reduced needs because the rains bring fish, improved
pasture and wild foods, and the risk of conflict generally diminishes. The
principal concern is to what extent will vulnerability spike again when the
land dries and those natural resources diminish and the risk of conflict could
return," said Dr. Lautze.
FAO
has scaled up its resilience-building efforts in South Sudan since March 2014,
with a portfolio of emergency and development work that has expanded nearly
five times over the past year. FAO promotes a dual-track approach that
responds to the immediate needs of crisis-affected populations while increasing
food production and protecting livelihoods in less-affected areas.
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