Reports name Nigeria among the 10 countries hosting the world’s most hungry people

Nigeria is on the list of ten countries that are home to two-thirds of the population facing acute food insecurity globally.

The UN-backed annual report revealed on Friday that two-thirds of people facing a global food crisis last year lived in just 10 countries, with a third of them in Sudan, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Conflict remains the leading cause of acute food insecurity, according to the Global Report on Food Crises, based on data from the United Nations, the European Union and humanitarian agencies.

And with conflict and climate change “likely to maintain or worsen conditions in many countries”, the outlook for 2026 is “bleak”, he said.

“Acute food insecurity remains highly concentrated (in) 10 countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen,” the report said.

Improvements in some countries, such as Bangladesh and Syria, were “almost completely offset by significant setbacks” in Afghanistan, Congo, Myanmar and Zimbabwe, he said.

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For the first time in the report, which is its 10th edition, famine was confirmed to have occurred in two different contexts – in Gaza and parts of Sudan – in the same year.

Some 266 million people in 47 countries or territories experienced high levels of acute food insecurity last year, almost double the number in 2016, the report said.

The report also warned of a sharp decline in international aid and said Middle East wars risked exacerbating existing crises due to rising refugee numbers in a region that already hosts millions, and raising fertilizer costs.

The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, the main oil supply route, has caused fertilizer prices to soar as they depend on oil as a raw material.

“We are now entering the planting season,” said Alvaro Lario, head of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“So what is certain is that the current food shock – both with the increase in energy prices and also the increase in fertilizer – I think this will have a big impact in terms of production,” said Lario.

He called for more help to small-scale farmers, for example by investing in water-resistant and climate-resilient crops.

The crisis can be overcome by producing fertilizer locally by farmers and improving soil health so that less fertilizer is needed, he added.

IFAD also seeks to increase local private sector investment.

“Creating instruments and incentives for the local private sector… is a very important way to achieve long-term sustainability and development funding,” Lario said.