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Hunger crisis

Hunger skyrockets by nearly 80 percent in Eastern and Southern Africa over past five years amidst worsening water crisis

  • Nearly 116 million people in eight African countries, hardest hit by severe water crises, lack access to drinking water. 

  • Globally, flash floods have become 20 times more frequent between 2000 and 2022.   

The climate crisis has dramatically worsened water scarcity in Eastern and Southern Africa over the past few decades, leaving nearly 116 million people –or 40 percent of the population – without safe drinking water, according to a new Oxfam report.  

Climate change is supercharging extreme weather events like droughts, cyclones and flash floods, and has led to the disappearance of more than 90 percent of Africa’s tropical glaciers and the depletion of groundwater. This has had knock-on effects on Africa’s small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fisherpersons leaving millions without basic food, drinking water or income. 

Oxfam’s report –Water-Driven Hunger: How the Climate Crisis Fuels Africa’s Food Emergency – published ahead of World Water Day, looked at the links between water scarcity and hunger in eight of the world’s worst water crises: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It found that the number of people experiencing extreme hunger in those countries has surged by nearly 80 percent over the past five years – reaching over 55 million in 2024, up from nearly 31 million in 2019. That is two in every ten persons.  

The report warns that La Niña weather pattern, which will last through this month, will worsen floods in swaths of Southern Africa and South Sudan while causing severe drought in East Africa further threatening people’s food availability and income. 

Globally, flash floods have become 20 times more frequent between 2000 and 2022 and the duration of droughts has risen by 29% since 2000, impacting the most vulnerable communities.  

Existing poverty, deep inequality and chronic under-investment along with poor governance in water systems have compounded this climate-fuelled water crisis. African governments are currently meeting less than half the US$50 billion annual investment target required to achieve water security in Africa by 2030.  

Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director said: 

“The climate crisis is not a mere statistic—it has a human face. It affects real people whose livelihoods are being destroyed, while the main contributors to this crisis—big polluters and super-rich—continue to profit. Meanwhile, national governments neglect to support the very communities they should protect.” 

And it’s not just the African continent facing these challenges, Pacific Island communities also rely heavily on rain as their primary water source. According to drinking water reports published by the World Health Organization, 43% of Pacific families access water from unmanaged sources like surface water or rainwater, making Oceania the least developed region for water access—ranking even behind sub-Saharan Africa. With climate unpredictability on the rise, more communities across the Pacific face water insecurity every year. Pacific leaders have called this the greatest threat to the region’s safety and security. 

The Oxfam report also found that: 

  • In the eight countries studied, 91 percent of small-scale farmers depend almost entirely on rainwater for drinking and farming.  

  • In Ethiopia, food insecurity has soared by 175 percent over the past five years, with 22 million people struggling to find their next meal.  

  • In Kenya, over 136,000 square kilometers of land have become drier between 1980 and 2020, which has decimated crops and livestock.  

  • In Somalia, one failed rainy season is pushing one million more people into crisis-level hunger, raising the total to 4.4 million—24% of the population. 

A farmer from Baidoa, Somalia explains: “In the past, we knew when to farm and when to harvest but that has all changed. The rains now come late or not at all.  Last year, I lost all my crops and animals. I have now planted but the rains have still not come. If this continues, I will not be able to feed my family.”  

Deep inequalities mean that disadvantaged people like women and girls are too often the first and most severely punished by this water crisis. In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, women and girls walk up to 10 kilometers in search of water, facing violence and extreme exhaustion. Many women and girls in rural households spend hours each day collecting water—time that could otherwise be spent on education or income generation.  

“At the heart of this climate crisis lies a justice crisis. Sub-Saharan Africa receives only 3-4 percent of global climate finance, despite being heavily affected by climate change. Rich polluting nations must pay their fair share. It’s not about charity, it’s about justice. 

“African governments must also double down on their investment in water infrastructures and social protection to effectively manage natural resources, and help the most vulnerable communities cope with climatic shocks,” added N’Zi-Hassane. 

//END 

Notes to editors 

  • Oxfam calculated the 79% rise in hunger based on the number of people facing IPC Phase 3 level and above of acute food insecurity according to the Global Report of Food Crises (GRFC) in 2019 and 2024 across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This calculation also showed that in Ethiopia, hunger rose by 175%.  

  • The observed recession of tropical glaciers in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda) since the 18th century is notable. According to a study by Enviornmental Research Climate, Mount Kilimanjaro has lost 91.4% of its glaciers, Mount Kenya has lost 95.8%, and the Ruwenzori Mountains have lost 94.2%.  

  • According to Climate and Developemt study  by Sutch et al. (2020), by 2041-2070, maize yield is expected to decline by over 29% in Southern Africa and 32% in East Africa compared to 1971-2020. 

  • By the end of November 2024, central and northern Somalia, northeast Kenya, and parts of southern-southeast pastoral areas of Ethiopia had received less than 60 percent of the average seasonal rains (according to WFP), while this year’s March–May rains are already delayed in the same areas. Source: IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Center  

  • According to “Flash floods: why are more of them devastating the world’s driest regions? Nature Journal, published 7 March 2023, globally, flash floods have become 20 times more frequent between 2000 and 2022. 

  • According to the African Union, approximately US$50 billion annually is required to achieve water security in Africa by 2030. However, current investment range from US$10-US$19 billion is invested each year leaving a funding gap of $11 to $20 billion dollars per year. 

  • The WHO’s drinking water report was published in 2022 and can be accessed here.  

Contact information  

Rachel Schaevitz | [email protected] 

Over 20 million more people hungry in Africa’s “year of nutrition”

Despite promises, nearly three-quarters of African governments reduced their agricultural budgets while paying almost double that on arms.

In the 12 months that African leaders vowed to improve food security in the continent, over 20 million more people have been pushed into severe hunger – equivalent to the entire population of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe combined.

Today a fifth of the African population of 278 million is undernourished, and 55 million of its children under the age of five are stunted due to severe malnutrition.

“The hunger African people are facing today is a direct result of inadequate political choices. In a year marred with global inflation and climate disasters, African leaders should have stepped up to their responsibility”, said Fati N’Zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director.

Chronic underinvestment in agriculture is a key cause of the widespread hunger experienced in 2022. The majority of African governments (48 out of 54) reportedly spend an average of 3.8 percent of their budgets on agriculture -some spending as little as one percent. Nearly three quarters of these governments have reduced their share of budget spent on agricultural since 2019, failing to honour their Malabo commitments to invest at least 10% of their budget on agriculture.

In contrast, African governments spent nearly double that budget (6.4%) on arms last year. Ongoing conflict, especially in Sahel and Central Africa, has continued to destroy farmland, displace people and fuel hunger.

With no major government support to farmers or adequate climate adaptation, production of staple food like cereals dropped last year, despite the continent possessing nearly a quarter of the world’s agricultural land. Worsening climate-fuelled droughts and floods, and a global rise in fuel and fertilizers prices, made food unobtainable for millions of people. In 2022 alone, food inflation rose by double digits in all but ten African countries.

“During the rainy season, we did not have money to pay for fertilizers. On top of that, our donkey died, so I had to cultivate our field with a daba [a simple ploughing tool]. The attic is empty,” says Sidbou, a female farmer in Burkina Faso.

As the 36th AU Summit – which focuses on intra-continental free trade this year– begins today, millions of smallholder farmers, who are vital food producers in the continent, cannot reach markets in neighbouring countries due to poor infrastructure and high intra-African tariffs. Many African nations find it cheaper to import food from outside the continent than from their next-door neighbour.

“As Africa’s Heads of State meet today at this year’s Summit, let this not be another year of broken promises. We urge them to honour commitments they collectively made almost 10 years ago by investing in agriculture and supporting smallholder farmers,” said N’Zi-Hassane.

“African leaders must also take serious steps to free up intra-continental trade to help local farmers. They must equally ramp up programmes to help people rebuild their lives and cope with recurrent climatic shocks,” added N’Zi-Hassane.

 

Notes to the Editors

  • As of August 2022 (the last available figure), there were 139.95 million people in 35 African countries living in Crisis or worse (IPC 3 or higher) acute food insecurity. That is an increase of 17% (20.26 million people) over the same number a year earlier (119.69 million people). While, this increase can be attributed to both a worsening acute food insecurity situation and an expansion in the population analyzed between 2021 and 2022, even when considering the share of the analyzed population in IPC3+ equivalent, the proportion of the population in these phases has increased in 2022 compared to 2021. Source: Global Report on Food Crises Mid-Year Update 2022 . For more details on the IPC classification please see IPC Technical Manual Version 3.1
  • The population of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe combined is approximately 21.3 million according to WorldoMeter in February 2023.
  • Malnutrition figures from the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022
  • The average spending on military as share of total budget is 6.43% (2021) as reported at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute , while the average spending in agriculture (2021) was 3.8% as reported on GovernmentSpendingWatch
  • South Sudan spends less than 1% of its budget on Agriculture. Calculations of all agricultural spending in Africa is based on data from the government spending watch. , national budgets and FAO.
  • According to the CAADP report: and the FAO Crop Prospects report, Africa’s cereal production in 2022 was 207.4 million tons, a decline of 3.4 million tons from the average of the previous five years.
  • COVID-19 in addition to climate change resulted in decrease of access to input, food production, food transportation and distribution and processing.  In 2014 African leaders signed the Malabo Declaration, which stipulated that African governments must spend at least 10% of their budget on Agriculture and supporting farmers.
  • In 2022, food inflation rose by double digits in all Africa countries except ten. Source:Trading economics.

New Somalia hunger figures – Oxfam reaction

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) figures for Somalia, shows that Somalia remains on the brink of famine. 5.6 million people are now in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity and this is expected to rise to 6.4 million by March 2023, and 8.3 million by June 2023. By June 2023, the number of people in catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5) is expected to double to 727,000.

Parvin Ngala, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Horn, East, and Central Africa said:

“Famine in Somalia is postponed, not prevented. People are dying now from hunger, malnutrition and disease in the worst hunger crisis in living memory.  Current efforts can only hold off a full-scale catastrophe for a limited time. Without an urgent and major increase in aid, many more people will die.

Somalia has suffered from failed rains for five consecutive seasons. This is unprecedented. The catastrophic drought has caused crop failures and livestock deaths on a mass scale. Millions of people have lost their sources of income and food.

Meanwhile, the price of staple food has skyrocketed, making food unaffordable for poor households. And to make matters worse, the long-running conflict particularly in central and southern Somalia persists, forcing people from their homes, disrupting markets and access, and restricting aid.

This is a terrible vicious circle. Within a few months, it’s likely that nearly half the entire population of Somalia could be severely hungry and there will be more communities facing starvation.

Despite the extreme human suffering, only about half of the UN appeal is currently funded. Donors must immediately inject money to meet the US$2.27bn UN appeal for Somalia and help the government to scale up its social protection programmes.”

 

Notes to the editor

As of 6 December 2022, only 55.1% of the current US$2.27bn UN appeal was funded, Source: https://fts.unocha.org/countries/206/summary/2022  

Humanitarian organisations estimate one person dying of hunger every four seconds

As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly, 238 civil society organisations demand urgent action to save lives now.

With one person estimated to be dying of hunger every four seconds, 238 local and international non-governmental organisations are calling on leaders gathering at the 77th UN General Assembly to take decisive action to end the spiralling global hunger crisis.

Organisations from 75 countries have signed an open letter expressing outrage at skyrocketing hunger levels and recommendations for action. A staggering 345 million people are now experiencing acute hunger, a number that has more than doubled since 2019.

Despite promises from world leaders to never allow famine again in the 21st century, famine is once more imminent in Somalia. Around the world, 50 million people are on the brink of starvation in 45 countries. 

Mohanna Ahmed Ali Eljabaly from the Yemen Family Care Association, one of the letter’s signatories, said:

“It is abysmal that with all the technology in agriculture and harvesting techniques today we are still talking about famine in the 21st century. This is not about one country or one continent and hunger never only has one cause. This is about the injustice of the whole of humanity. It is extremely difficult to see people suffering while others sharing the same planet have plenty of food. We must not wait a moment longer to focus both on providing immediate lifesaving food and longer-term support so people can take charge of their futures and provide for themselves and their families.”

Sumaya, a 32-year-old mother who lives with her four children in a displacement camp in the Somali region of Ethiopia, is one of the millions facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

“No water, no food, a hopeless life,” she said. “Above all, my children are starving. They are on the verge of death. Unless they get some food, I’m afraid they will die.”

The global hunger crisis has been fuelled by a deadly mix of poverty, social injustice, gender inequality, conflict, climate change, and economic shocks, with the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine further driving up food prices and the cost of living.

Those with the power and money to change this must come together to better respond to current crises and prevent and prepare for future ones.

 

NOTES TO EDITOR

  1. The calculations of the estimated mortality rate from hunger per second was calculated by applying the IPC crude death rate cut offs for IPC Phase 3, minus a normal daily death rate of 0.22 per 10,000 people per day, to the recent Global Report on Food Crises mid-year update for 2022 (released 12/09/22) figure which is 205.1 million people in IPC Phase 3 Acute Food Insecurity or worse (IPC Phases: 3 Crisis, 4 Emergency and 5 Catastrophe), which require immediate humanitarian assistance. This would equal between 7,745.7 and 19,701.7 people dying daily as a result of acute hunger, and between 5.39 and 13.69 people dying per minute. That translates to one person dying every 4.25 – 12 seconds. This is a conservative estimate since the death rates for people in IPC Phase 4 and 5 are significantly higher.
  2. Current acute hunger levels are 345 million; they were 135 million in 2019. (https://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-5-june-2022).

 

Press release endorsed by:

  • Concern Worldwide
  • Islamic Relief
  • Oxfam International
  • Plan International
  • CARE International
  • World Vision International
  • Save the Children International
  • Action Against Hunger

Two-weeks increase in food billionaires’ wealth enough to fully fund East Africa hunger crisis response

Food inflation in some East African countries outstrips global average leaving millions hungry

Food inflation in East African countries where tens of millions of people are caught in an alarming hunger crisis has increased sharply, reaching a staggering 44 percent in Ethiopia – nearly five times the global average.

It is estimated that one person is dying every 48 seconds in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia alone, where the worst drought in decades is being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and is pushing food prices to skyrocketing levels.

Against this backdrop, food billionaires have increased their collective wealth by US$382bn since 2020. Less than two weeks’ worth of their wealth gains, would be more than enough to fund the entirety of the US$6.2 billion UN appeal for East Africa, which is currently woefully funded at a mere 16 per cent.

Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam’s Food Policy Lead, said: “A monstrous amount of wealth is being captured at the top of our global food supply chains, meanwhile rising food prices contribute to a growing catastrophe which is leaving millions of people unable to feed themselves and their families. World leaders are sleepwalking into a humanitarian disaster.”

“We need to reimagine a new global food system to really end hunger; one that works for everyone. Governments can and must mobilise enough resources to prevent human suffering. One good option would be to tax the mega-rich who have seen their wealth soar to record levels during the past two years.

“This fundamentally broken global food system – one that is exploitative, extractive, poorly regulated and largely in the hands of big agribusinesses – is becoming unsustainable for people and the planet and is pushing millions in East Africa and worldwide to starvation.”

People in East Africa spend as much as 60 percent of their income on food, and the region over-relies on imported staple food. For example, food and beverages account for 54 percent of CPI in Ethiopia, compared to just 11.6 percent in the United Kingdom. While many people in affluent countries are struggling with the increased consumer prices, their counterparts in East African countries are facing hunger and destitution.

  • In Somalia, maize prices were six times higher (78 percent) than global prices (12.9 percent) in May 2022 than they were 12 months before. In some regions, the minimum food basket expenditure has soared to over 160 percent compared to last year. The cost of one kilo of sorghum – a staple food – was more than 240 percent higher than the five-year average.  
  • In Ethiopia, food inflation soared by 43.9 percent since last year. Cereals prices increased by 70 percent in the year to May, more than double the global increase 
  • In Kenya, the price of maize flour, the main staple, has doubled in seven months and rose by 50 percent in just a month (between June and July 2022). Rising food and energy prices will increase poverty by 2.5 percent, pushing about 1.4 million Kenyans into extreme poverty.
  • In South Sudan cereals prices in May were triple their levels a year earlier, while the price of bread has doubled since last year. The average price of cereals has been higher than 30 percent of the five-year average.

In Bundunbuto village, Puntland, Somalia, families’ purchasing power has been halved compared with two months ago, meaning when they used to buy 25kg of rice and sugar, now they can only buy 13.5kg per month. 

In Somalia, where a “risk of famine” was recently declared, nearly half the population – over seven million people – face acute hunger, of whom 213,000 are at risk of famine.

Shamis Jama Elmi (38), a mother to a family of eight, moved from Barate to Docoloha displacement camp in 2017 because of the drought. The US$60 cash assistance she gets each month from Oxfam can only buy 12 kg of flour, rice and sugar to sustain her family for half a month. “We eat one meal a day and used to eat 3 times a day. We only eat rice with salt.”

Global food prices have hit a 50-year high and worldwide there are now 828 million people going hungry – 150 million more than at the start of the COVID pandemic. The Ukraine conflict has caused a huge spike in grain and energy prices but these have only worsened what was already an inflationary trend. This means, even when food is available, millions cannot afford to buy it.

Even within advanced economies like the US, the poorest 20 percent of the population are forced to spend four times more on food than the wealthiest 20 percent.

“Our broken global food system, and the inequality that underlies it, have wrought a war of attrition to millions of poor people who have lost their last purchasing power and can no longer afford to eat,” Saarinen said.

“To help those countries cope with rising food prices and the hunger crisis, rich nations must immediately cancel debt for those countries – which has doubled over the last decade– in order to enable them to free resources to deal with the skyrocketing hunger and to import needed grains. This money can and should be easily recovered by taxing the ultra-rich.”

To end the root causes of hunger, governments must better regulate food markets and ensure more flexible international trade rules in favor of the world’s most vulnerable consumers, workers and farmers. Governments and donors should support small-scale farmers who in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa provide more than 70 percent of the food supply .

 

 Notes to the Editor 

  • Food inflation over the last year in Ethiopia (44 percent,) Somalia (15 percent), and Kenya (12 percent) is exceeding the G7 (10 percent) and global average (9 percent). 
  • One year food inflation up until May 2022 for Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia was sourced from Trading Economics. The G7 average from the OECD (up to May 2022) and the global average from the ILO (the latest data available is up to March 2022). 
  • Data on food and agriculture billionaire wealth was drawn from Oxfam’s Profiting from Pain report and is for the period of March 2020 to March 2022. Two-weeks increase in food billionaires’ wealth would correspond to US$7.3 billion.
  • In Kenya, the price of maize flour, the main staple, doubled in seven months (KES 108 in Nov 2021 for 2kg packet; KES 210 in July 2022).  
  • To date, only US$9 million of the total US$6.157 billion UN appeal for Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan (both HRP and FA) has been funded. This is a gap of 84 percent. Source: UN OCHA Appeals and response plans 2022 | Financial Tracking Service (unocha.org)
  • Grain prices are from FAO’s Food Price Monitoring and Analysis tool for May 2021-May 2022; and FAO’s Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulletin #5, 15 June 2022
  • Oxfam, together with partners is supporting the most vulnerable people in East Africa with lifesaving food, cash assistance and water and sanitation services. It aims to reach over 1.3 million of the most vulnerable people.

Response to global hunger catastrophically inadequate

Today’s “Global Report on Food Crises” – led by the UN along with 16 partner organisations including Oxfam – says that more than 193 million people across 53 countries are experiencing acute hunger and require urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance. 

Oxfam Global Food Security and Livelihoods expert, Emily Farr, said: 

“It is deeply concerning to find extreme hunger increasing to a magnitude never seen before. 40 million more people have been pushed to extreme hunger, nearly a 25 percent surge since last year, and 80 percent since 2016. But tragically, this comes as no surprise. Even as the alarm bells have been sounding, governments across the globe collectively failed to tackle this mass suffering and deprivation.

“There are no more excuses. All the warnings are there for countries facing famine-like conditions such as Ethiopia, South Sudan and Yemen. The world has the tools that have anticipated this worsening hunger, and yet continues to choose not to act fast or adequately enough.   

“G7 governments and the EU have pledged US$2.6 billion into the UN’s humanitarian appeals to date but these pale in comparison to the promises they made last year to commit $8.5 billion to end famine. To make matters even worse, some rich countries have effectively cut some of their humanitarian aid to countries facing mass hunger, malnutrition and starvation such as Mali and Syria, as they diverted aid to other crises.  

“Global crises, worsened by the economic turmoil of COVID-19 and more recently by the Ukraine conflict, have pushed food prices to an all-time high in March 2022 – up by 12.6 percent over February – which is putting food ever more out of reach for millions of people. 

“Mariam, a Somali girl suffering severe malnutrition, has done nothing to cause a global pandemic, the Ukraine war or the climate crisis. Yet governments responsible for these crises have largely chosen to forget Mariam and millions of children like her.  

“Hunger, in a world of plenty, is an avoidable tragedy. Rich countries can save millions of people if they immediately fund the UN global appeals. They can save lives now. Warring parties can help avert hunger by allowing aid to reach those at risk of dying from food insecurity and malnutrition. 

“G7 nations also must meet their responsibilities to cut their CO2 emissions. They are most responsible for the climate crisis which is causing chaos for farming and agricultural systems, and driving hunger and displacement. They should pay low-income countries for the loss and damage they are suffering, and to help smallholder farmers – especially female farmers – to adapt to climate change. This is not a matter of charity, but rather a question of justice.” 

Notes to the editors 

  • The Global Report for Food Crises is an annual report published by The Global Network for Food Crises which is an international alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together. 
  • New OECD data shows that overall aid spending from 30 OECD members summed 179 billion dollars in 2021. Rich countries only committed 0.33 percent of their gross national income (GNI) to development aid, the same as 2020, and well below the 0.7 percent they promised back in 1970. In 2021, just 5 countries – Luxembourg, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Denmark – have lived up to this promise. 
  • Recently, Oxfam has expressed concern that some donor governments are already shifting aid budgets to pay for Ukrainian assistance and the costs of hosting more than 4.5 million people who have fled the country recently. Compared to 2020, aid for hosting refugees has not changed and is stabilising at 5.2 percent since its peak in 2016 when it amounted to 11 percent of aid. The current statistics do not take into account 2022 aid which has seen this shift towards aid diversion. 

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