Racing to reverse Somalia's hunger tide
Standing on top of a towering anthill in the arid fields of northeastern Somalia, 10-year-old Farah and his mother, Safiya Maxamed, cover their faces from the sun, as they keep watch over their handful of goats feeding off a pile of thorny branches.
“I used to have 100 goats,” says Maxamed. “The five you see are all that remain.”
Dry water ponds, destroyed crops, animal carcasses, and old pots filled with ash are part of the new landscape in Diilin, a village in the Puntland region. Livestock – historically the backbone of economic and cultural life here – has been wiped out by three failed rainy seasons.
Now, like millions across the parched country, Maxamed and her family of six have run out of options – even as a humanitarian lifeline offered by the World Food Programme (WFP) and other aid agencies vanishes for lack of funds. As their food stocks and savings dwindle, they are reducing meal portions, and contemplating relocating to a place where they hope to find emergency assistance.
“We are ready to save lives, but without continued support, communities could fall back into emergency hunger or worse." - WFP Somalia Country Director Hameed Nuru.
Somalia is facing one of the most complex hunger crises in recent years, driven by searing drought, conflict, large-scale displacement, and severely limited humanitarian assistance. New expert findings show the number of people experiencing crisis-level hunger or worse has nearly doubled in a year, to 6.5 million. That includes two million in emergency hunger, the second highest level of food insecurity – a number that has tripled in just six months. More than 1.8 million children are expected to be acutely or severely malnourished this year.
The conditions are alarmingly similar to those in 2022, when a record-breaking drought pushed the country to the brink of famine. Then, catastrophe was narrowly averted after an unprecedented scale-up of WFP food and nutrition assistance that reached 8 million people – a spectacular achievement realized thanks to massive support from donors, humanitarian partners and the Federal Government of Somalia.
But as financing dries up, WFP can only reach 1 in 10 people in urgent need. Without an immediate influx of funds, we will be forced to halt all assistance by April.
“Entire families have had to once again make the toughest choices,” says Hameed Nuru, WFP Country Director in Somalia. “Sell the little assets they had, reduce or completely cut meals, and leave everything behind to find help - but this time there’s no help available.”
Sleepless with hunger
Maxamed’s village lies in one of the 30 districts where WFP has stopped delivering emergency food assistance for lack of funds. That includes lifesaving nutrition services that now reach just 120 health centres countrywide, down from more than 600 previously.
“In this town where we live, everyone is in a very difficult situation. There are hundreds of families sleeping hungry at night, and children do not attend school,” Maxamed says. “Some people go without food for two consecutive weeks, and don’t even get milk.”
Maxamed’s family used to be self-reliant thanks to their livestock. Her children went to school in town, and she helped teach other students. But when her goats began to slowly perish after two years of almost no rain, the family lost its source of income and food. Maxamed was forced to pull her children out of class, reduce meals, and borrow money.
“There is no normal day anymore,” she says. "In a week, it is possible to sleep four nights when we eat and the other three, we stay up hungry.”
As hardship mounts, Maxamed’s family could soon head to a displacement settlement – joining some 4 million people projected to be displaced by drought over the first three months of this year.
Fadumo Abdikarim has already made that journey, driven by conflict and hunger. Today, she lives with her family in a displacement camp in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Here, too, the funding crunch has forced WFP to reduce our assistance.
“There is severe hardship and need,” Abdikarim says, describing conditions at the crowded camp. “Some children have no fathers, some have no mothers, and many people have no jobs.”
Ready to save lives
The massive mobilization witnessed by WFP and our partners during Somalia’s last hunger crisis could similarly turn the tide today. With enough financing, WFP and our partners could quickly scale up, surging emergency food and nutrition assistance essential for children to recover from malnutrition and for families to rebuild their livelihoods.
“We are ready to save lives, but without continued support, communities could fall back into emergency hunger or worse,” Nuru says. “Further reductions would trigger serious humanitarian, security, and economic consequences that could extend beyond Somalia’s borders.”
For families like Maxamed’s, who have already lost nearly everything, each day begins with the same questions: how to stretch the little that is left, and how long they can hold on before they, too, are forced to leave their homes.
As the sun goes down, she and her son walk home, carrying a small plastic container with a bit of water for their family.
“The animals are gone, and people are at risk,” Maxamed says. “If this harsh situation continues, without water and without food, people will die.”
Fatima Hirsi contributed to the story.
WFP’s work in Somalia is made possible thanks to support from Austria, Canada, Denmark, European Union, the Federal Government of Somalia, France, Germany, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), Japan, JAWFP, Luxembourg, private donors, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UN CERF, UN SDG Fund, the United Kingdom (FCDO), the United States of America and the Zoetis Foundation.