Recently independent South Sudan will face chronic food shortages next year due to internal and border insecurity, erratic rains and a huge influx of returnees from the North, UN agencies have warned.
Image: Steve Evans | Wikimedia Commons
The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said a Rapid Crop Assessment carried out in August showed South Sudan was likely to produce 420,000-500,000MT of food this year – half the required amount.
Elijah Mukhala, FAO food security specialist, said it estimated 1.2 million people would be “severely food-insecure” next year, compared with 970,000 last year, with the deficit set to increase by about a quarter from 300,000MT last year.
“We made gains in 2010. Right now, all these gains are being reversed, and the two main issues are insecurity and rainfall”, causing shortages and price rises in both countries, FAO food security coordinator Mtendere Mphatso said.
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