The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has raised alarm that over 36 million people in West and Central Africa are currently facing serious hunger. The organisation said the situation is expected to worsen, with projections showing the number could rise to more than 52 million during the lean season between June and August 2025. This increase is linked to ongoing conflicts, economic hardship, displacement, and repeated extreme weather conditions across the region.
WFP said close to three million people in the region are already experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity. Among them, 2,600 people in Mali are facing catastrophic hunger, which is the most severe level of food insecurity. Despite the growing need, the WFP says there are not enough resources to meet the demands, and millions of lives are now at risk.
Speaking on the crisis, Margot van der Velden, the WFP’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said, “Without immediate funding, WFP will be forced to scale down even further both in the number of people reached and the size of food rations distributed.”
The organisation painted a grim picture of how bad the situation has become. In 2019, only four percent of people in the region were food insecure. That number has now increased drastically to 30 percent, according to Ollo Sib, a senior research adviser with WFP. He described the hunger situation in the Sahel as “extremely difficult and dire.”
Mr. Sib, who spoke from Dakar, Senegal, shared findings from his recent visits to some affected areas. In northern Ghana, for instance, farmers are facing an unusual drought that has forced them to replant crops multiple times. He explained that the high cost of fertilisers and seeds is making things worse for these farmers who are already struggling financially.
In northern Mali, the situation is even more dangerous. The WFP team met with pastoralist elders who usually depend on livestock sales to buy food. But now, they are facing two big problems. The cost of food has gone up by 50 percent compared to the average of the last five years, and many of them cannot even access markets due to insecurity and conflict.
WFP linked the worsening hunger crisis to continued fighting across the region. The organisation said that more than 10 million people have been displaced by conflict, including over two million refugees and asylum seekers. Countries such as Chad, Cameroon, Mauritania and Niger are among those badly affected.
Apart from conflict, high food prices and natural disasters like floods are also making it hard for people to access or afford food. With these combined problems, the WFP said there is urgent need for international support to avoid a full-blown humanitarian disaster.
The agency is calling on donor governments and humanitarian partners to provide emergency funding to help scale up food assistance across the region.
