News releases

SANA’A / ROME – A UN World Food Programme-charted vessel departed today from the Ukrainian Black Sea Port of Yuznhy (Pivdennyi) with wheat grain destined for the agency’s humanitarian response in Yemen.

ROME – It is reprehensible that millions of people will be pushed further into hunger by the resumption of fighting in Northern Ethiopia. In the past few months, the humanitarian truce has allowed WFP and our partners to reach almost 5 million people in Tigray. However, yesterday that lifeline was severed.

YUZHNY / ROME – The first maritime shipment of Ukrainian wheat grain for humanitarian operations run by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) left Ukraine’s Yuzhny (Pivdennyi) Port today, another important milestone in efforts to get much needed Ukrainian grain out of the conflict-hit country, back into global markets, and to countries worst affected by the global food crisis.

NB: This is a re-issue of a 23 June 2022 joint FAO-WFP news release. This version corrects the number of people facing acute levels of food insecurity in Cabo Verde.

DAKAR – The number of people affected by food insecurity in Cabo Verde is set to spike with more than 46,000 women, men and children – almost 10 percent of the population - facing an acute deterioration in food security between June and August this year. This represents a threat to the country’s hard-won gains in food security over recent years forcing the Government to declare a social and economic national emergency on 20 June. If not urgently addressed, this will severely disrupt food access and agricultural production, putting more lives at risk as the country depends largely on imports to meet its food needs.

DAKAR –The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in partnership with the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the Senegalese Ministry of Economy, Plan and Cooperation, today launched the annual forum of intergovernmental organisations from West Africa, to examine and address the impact of emerging risks and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the unfolding crisis in Ukraine.

Conflict, weather extremes, economic shocks, the lingering impacts of COVID-19, and the ripple effects from the war in Ukraine push millions of people in countries across the world into poverty and hunger – as food and fuel price spikes drive nations closer to instability says new hunger hotspots report

ROME – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today issued a stark warning of multiple, looming food crises, driven by conflict, climate shocks, the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and massive public debt burdens - exacerbated by the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine which has pushed food and fuel prices to accelerate in many nations across the globe. These shocks hit in contexts already characterized by rural marginalization and fragile agrifood systems.

PANAMA CITY – The number of severely food insecure people has shot up by over half a million between December 2021 and March 2022 in Latin America and the Caribbean, as the region struggles to cope with the fallout of COVID-19, now coupled with the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, warns the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

NEW YORK – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, addressed the United Nations Security Council today on the impact of the war in Ukraine on global food security. Here are selected highlights from his remarks:

SANA’A/YOKOHAMA – The United Nations World Food Programme has welcomed a US$ 10 million contribution from the Government of Japan to provide life-saving food assistance in Yemen, where people are pushed to the brink due to a prolonged conflict, an economic crisis, and the fallout of the war in Ukraine.

CAIRO – The war in Ukraine has dealt a fresh hammer blow to Syria’s ability to feed itself just as the country struggles to deal with levels of hunger that are up by half since 2019, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today on the eve of the annual donor pledging conference held in Brussels.

ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme is today calling for the re-opening of the ports in the Odesa area of southern Ukraine so that food being produced in the war-torn country can flow freely to the rest of the world, before the current global hunger crisis spins out of control.

Banjul – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched, today, cash transfers to assist internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees, and host families in Foni Kansala (West Coast region), as the conflict in the Senegalese Casamance region has led to cross-border displacement.

NAIROBI – Millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger as food rations dwindle due to humanitarian resources being stretched to the limit as the world grapples with a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate shocks, and Covid-19, combined with spiraling costs of food and fuel, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.

ROME – France’s Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Agriculture and Food Julien Denormandie and EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič met with David Beasley, Executive Director (ED) of the World Food Program (WFP), to discuss the dramatic consequences of the war in Ukraine on food security, especially for developing countries and the world’s most vulnerable countries.

DAKAR – The number of women, men and children affected by a food and nutrition crisis in West and Central Africa is expected to reach a new record high in June 2022 - quadrupling in just three years from 10.7 million in 2019 to 41 million in 2022 - unless appropriate measures are urgently taken, reveals the Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis released in March 2022.

DILI – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a US$ 1.5 million donation from the Government of Timor-Leste for the agency’s humanitarian response in Ukraine.

Lviv – The United Nations World Food Programme has welcomed an additional contribution of US$14 million from the Government of Japan to provide humanitarian food assistance to people affected by the conflict in Ukraine. This brings the total contribution by Japan for the Ukraine crisis to US$ 28 million.

CAIRO – As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins, the soaring cost of food staples in import-dependent Middle Eastern and North African countries is creating ever greater challenges for millions of families already struggling to keep hunger at bay, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

KRAKOW – The United Nations World Food Programme has welcomed a US$14 million contribution from the Government of Japan to provide emergency food assistance to people affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

SANA’A – Desperate levels of hunger in war-torn Yemen are set to become catastrophic as the Ukraine crisis pushes up food prices and a nearly US$ 900-million funding gap makes further cuts in food assistance ever more certain, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

SANA’A, ADEN, ROME, NEW YORK, - Yemen’s already dire hunger crisis is teetering on the edge of outright catastrophe, with 17.4 million people now in need of food assistance and a growing portion of the population coping with emergency levels of hunger, UN agencies have warned.

RZESZOW, Poland – As the emergency operation in Ukraine moved into high gear today, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) expressed deep concern about the waning ability of families in embattled areas to find food and also warned that the crisis could have consequences well beyond Ukraine’s borders.

SANA’A – Yemen is spiraling into a catastrophe as humanitarian funding dries up, forcing the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to scale back food assistance to millions of hungry families, WFP Executive Director David Beasley warned today, as he ended a two-day visit to the conflict-ravaged country.

ROME – We are deeply concerned about the evolving conflict in Ukraine and its potential impact on access to food for civilians in affected areas and on our operations globally. Our thoughts are with all those who have been caught up in this crisis and we echo the UN Secretary General’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

GAZA – Thanks to a generous contribution of EUR 3 million from the European Union (EU), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has supported 23,400 people in need (more than 4,000 families) with critical assistance in the Gaza Strip.