Geneva – Senior researchers at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) say West Africa is experiencing a serious food and nutrition crisis, and lack of funding is making the situation worse.
WFP Senior Regional Research Advisor, Ollo Sib, attended a UN press conference from Dakar to Geneva on May 9, saying 36 million people in West and Central Africa are struggling to meet their basic food needs.
“According to the latest food security analysis from executives, over 36 million people are struggling to meet their basic food needs, which is projected to rise to over 52 million during the 2025 lean season from June to August,” Sib said.
This includes nearly 3 million people in emergency conditions and 2,600 people in Mali who are at risk of facing catastrophic hunger.
“More than 10 million people, the most vulnerable in the region, have been forced to displace, including 2.4 million refugees and asylum seekers in Chad, Cameroon, Mauritania and Niger,” the UN advisor said.
“Over 8 million people have been evacuated internally, mainly in Nigeria and Cameroon.”
He said many affected people fled the farm, fled the farm and lost grazing land in search of food and shelter.
Food inflation, exacerbated by rising food and fuel costs, drives critical hunger levels to new highs in Ghana, Guinea and Ivory Coast.
Furthermore, food prices continue to rise in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, keeping nutritious foods out of reach of the most vulnerable.
“In Northern Mali, I met a herdsmen who were forced to sell his livestock to buy food for his family,” Sib said.
He said that in the northern part of Ivory Coast, the prices of each kilogram of cashew nuts have plummeted, and the costs of basic staples like rice have skyrocketed.
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He said extreme weather erodes family capabilities, particularly in the Central Sahel, Lake Chad basin and the Central African Republic.
The SIB explained that floods and droughts affected more than 6 million people across the region in 2024 alone.
The UN advisor said in the Sahel and northern Nigeria, communities such as Jere, Mafa and Konduga in Borno have twice the normal rainfall, flooding fields, destroying crops and losing livestock.
“The humanitarian needs in West and Central Africa are rising sharply, but resources to achieve effective responses on a large scale are not at a pace,” SIB said.
WFP aims to reach West Africa and the Sahel this year with critical support and nutritional support for West Africa and the Sahel, supporting the most vulnerable durability shocks when they inevitably arise.
To achieve this, the UN agency will urgently need $710 million to continue its life-saving support for the region’s most vulnerable over the next six months (May-October 2025).
