WFP warns Somalia food aid could halt by April without new funds, putting millions at risk
The U.N. World Food Program warned Friday that its life-saving food and nutrition assistance in Somalia could grind to a halt as early as April unless fresh funding arrives, threatening to push millions deeper into hunger after years of failed rains and conflict.
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The agency said an estimated 4.4 million people in Somalia face crisis-level food insecurity, with nearly 1 million already enduring severe hunger. A sharp drop in humanitarian funding has forced the WFP to scale back its reach and cut critical nutrition programs for pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children.
“The situation is deteriorating at an alarming rate,” said Ross Smith, the WFP’s director of emergency preparedness and response. “Families have lost everything, and many are already being pushed to the brink. Without immediate emergency food support, conditions will worsen quickly.”
Somalia declared a national drought emergency in November after recurrent poor rainy seasons compounded by insecurity across parts of the country. The WFP said the current shortfall echoes a perilous stretch in 2022, when famine was narrowly averted only after a surge of international support.
The WFP, the largest humanitarian agency operating in Somalia, said it has already reduced assistance from 2.2 million people earlier this year to just over 600,000 due to funding gaps. Nutrition services have also been sharply scaled back, heightening the risk of acute malnutrition among the most vulnerable.
The agency is seeking $95 million to sustain operations between March and August, a period that spans the lean season in many areas and will be decisive for households that have exhausted coping mechanisms after repeated climate shocks.
“If our already reduced assistance ends, the humanitarian, security, and economic consequences will be devastating, with the effects felt far beyond Somalia’s borders,” Smith said.
Humanitarian agencies have warned that prolonged funding interruptions can rapidly unwind fragile gains in food security, especially in communities where livestock losses, displacement and rising prices have eroded resilience. The WFP’s planned cuts would arrive as families contend with depleted harvests and diminished income, leaving few safety nets.
While the WFP did not detail which regions would see the steepest reductions next, aid groups have previously flagged heightened needs in parts of south and central Somalia, where access and insecurity can complicate deliveries and where seasonal rains have been erratic.
Donor support allowed aid groups to stave off famine during the 2022 crisis, but agencies now report a widening gap between needs and available funds across the Horn of Africa. The WFP’s warning underscores how quickly relief pipelines can falter without timely financing and how those breaks can ripple across local markets, public health, and stability.
The agency urged swift commitments to avoid a hard stop in April and to prevent a slide toward more severe hunger indicators. With malnutrition rising and household food stocks thin or exhausted in many districts, the WFP said uninterrupted food and nutrition assistance will be critical to stabilizing families through midyear.
- People in crisis-level food insecurity: 4.4 million
- Facing severe hunger: nearly 1 million
- Assistance scaled back: from 2.2 million to just over 600,000 people
- Funding requested: $95 million for March–August operations
- Emergency context: national drought emergency declared in November after repeated failed rains
Without immediate funding, the WFP cautioned, Somalia risks a rapid deterioration that would be more costly—and deadlier—to reverse.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
