Worsening Somalia food crisis leaves 6.5M people hungry: WFP

Somalia is facing a worsening hunger crisis as drought, conflict, displacement and shrinking humanitarian funding push millions of people toward emergency levels of food insecurity, the World Food Programme warned on Thursday.

According to WFP, 6.5 million people in Somalia are now experiencing crisis-level hunger or worse, almost double the number recorded a year ago.

Of these, 2 million people are facing emergency hunger, while more than 1.8 million children are expected to suffer acute or severe malnutrition this year.

The agency said the situation resembles the 2022 crisis, when Somalia came close to famine before a major humanitarian scale-up helped avert catastrophe.

WFP and its partners reached 8 million people at the time, but the agency now says funding shortages are severely limiting its response.

In northeastern Somalia’s Puntland region, families who once relied on livestock have lost much of their income and food supply after three failed rainy seasons.

Safiya Maxamed, a resident of Diilin village, said her herd had fallen from 100 goats to just five.

WFP said families in similar conditions are reducing meals, borrowing money and considering displacement in search of assistance.

The funding shortfall has already forced WFP to stop emergency food assistance in 30 districts.

The agency said it can currently reach only one in ten people in urgent need and may have to halt emergency assistance by July unless additional funding is secured.

Nutritional support has also been reduced, with pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls cut off from assistance, and WFP-supported health centres reduced from more than 600 in 2025 to 120.

WFP Somalia Country Director Hameed Nuru warned that further reductions could have humanitarian, security and economic consequences beyond Somalia.

The agency said it urgently needs US$131 million to continue supporting the country’s most vulnerable people through October 2026.