The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Severe funding cuts have forced the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to drastically reduce food assistance in Afghanistan, where less than 10% of people in need are now receiving help, the agency warned Thursday.
In a statement, WFP said the reductions come amid soaring
malnutrition rates and the approach of winter, when millions of Afghans face
worsening hunger and limited access to aid. The agency said similar crises are
unfolding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia, South
Sudan, and Sudan, where food assistance programs are being disrupted or
suspended altogether.
“Every ration cut means a child goes to bed hungry, a mother
skips a meal, or a family loses the support they need to survive,” said WFP
Executive Director Cindy McCain.
The cuts come as global hunger reaches record highs, with 319
million people facing acute food insecurity — including 44 million at emergency
levels — and famine already taking hold in parts of Sudan and the Gaza Strip.
WFP said it expects to receive 40 percent less funding this
year, with a projected budget of $6.4 billion, down from $10 billion in 2024.
“We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight
against hunger,” McCain warned. “Even hard-won gains in the Sahel region, where
500,000 people have been lifted out of aid dependence, could soon be wiped out
without continued support.”
The agency’s new report estimates that 13.7 million people
who currently rely on WFP food aid could slide from crisis to emergency levels
of hunger — a one-third global increase.
In the DRC, where 28 million people face food insecurity,
WFP said plans to feed 2.3 million people this month have been slashed to just
600,000. In Haiti, school meal programs have stopped, and families are
receiving half of WFP’s standard monthly rations. Support in Somalia has
dropped from 2.2 million people last year to 350,000 this November.
In South Sudan, every WFP beneficiary now receives a reduced
ration, with some food items expected to run out by the end of October.
Meanwhile, in Sudan, the agency continues to assist four million people each
month, though 25 million people — half the population — face acute food
insecurity due to war.
For the first time in nearly a decade, WFP said it has no
contingency food stocks in Haiti ahead of hurricane season and no pre-positioned
supplies in Afghanistan before winter.
McCain said the funding shortfall risks triggering broader
instability.
“The devastating harm inflicted by cuts to food assistance
not only threatens lives, but also risks undermining stability, fuelling
displacement, and stoking wider social and economic upheaval,” she said. “Swift
and effective food assistance is a vital bulwark against chaos in nations
already struggling to cope.”
