News: WFP struggles to ensure safe and timely food deliveries to millions in Ethiopia amid conflict, inflation, and financial shortfalls

Addis Abeba – The World Food Program (WFP) has expressed concern over the increasing challenges it faces in ensuring safe and timely food deliveries to Ethiopia’s most vulnerable populations.

According to the UN agency, these challenges are exacerbated by the ongoing conflict, rising inflation, and a widening funding gap for humanitarian efforts.

In its latest country brief, published on 23 August, 2024, the WFP highlighted Ethiopia’s dire food crisis, warning that the situation could deteriorate further without increased aid during the peak needs period from July through September 2024.

It further emphasized that the possibility of more severe outcomes is a stark reality if support does not intensify during this critical time.

WFP indicates that a staggering 15.8 million individuals across Ethiopia are in dire need of food assistance in 2024, primarily attributable to the ongoing drought.

However, the agency emphasized that the deteriorating security situation, particularly within regions such as Amhara and Oromia, is giving rise to access challenges, jeopardizing the safety of its staff, and negatively impacting its operations.

Last week, Addis Standard reported the tragic killing of humanitarian worker Yared Melese in the Amhara region.

Yared’s death brings the total number of aid workers killed in Ethiopia this year to eight, with six of those fatalities occurring in Amhara.

A recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also disclosed that 14 kidnappings of aid workers for ransom have occurred in 2024, primarily in the Central and North Gondar zones.

In its recent Food and Nutrition Security Update, WFP further highlighted that the depreciation of the birr, resulting from recent macroeconomic measures, is anticipated to have an immediate adverse effect on impoverished households.

‘The introduction of free-floating exchange rates and the subsequent depreciation of the birr are expected to exert an immediate detrimental impact on poor households,’ forecasted the UN agency. ‘Elevated food prices constitute one of the primary factors contributing to acute food insecurity by restricting economic access to food.’

In the aftermath of the recent government’s implementation of comprehensive macroeconomic reforms, the country, particularly the capital Addis Abeba, has witnessed a marked increase in prices for a variety of consumer goods, prompting a crackdown on businesses accused of price gouging and hoarding.

A survey conducted by Addis Standard at various markets in Addis Abeba revealed that prices for certain products, especially imported goods and essential domestic items such as oil, sugar, and onions, have experienced a significant uptick.

A trader at the city’s major market, Merkato, who requested anonymity, reported that a five-liter container of cooking oil, previously priced at 900 Birr, is now being sold for as much as 1,200 Birr. Similarly, sugar, which used to be priced at 100 Birr per kilogram, has now risen to 116 Birr.

Another resident at the Shola market in Addis Abeba, who also requested anonymity, reported that the price of cooking oil, which used to be 1,000 Birr, has now increased to 1,500 Birr.

Amidst the escalating prices, the government has taken steps to crack down on businesses accused of exploiting the situation.”

Beyond the security challenges and escalating food prices, the WFP has indicated that a funding gap is hindering the scale of its operations, limiting its ability to reach more vulnerable segments of the population.

The UN agency disclosed that it requires $278 million for the next six months and $776 million for the next twelve months. This financial requirement encompasses the funding necessary to provide food assistance to 10.9 million acutely food-insecure individuals up to September 2024.

However, the WFP noted that, due to funding shortfalls, only 55% of the targeted population will receive food assistance unless new funding is secured.

In addition to the 10.9 million prioritized acutely food-insecure individuals, Ethiopia hosts more than one million refugees and asylum seekers who are in need of food assistance.

‘Until the WFP receives sufficient funding, refugees in Ethiopia will continue to receive only 60% of the food, owing to severe funding shortfalls, with the exception of new arrivals who will receive a higher level of response package,’ states the report.”

In addition to the 10.9 million individuals prioritized for acute food assistance, Ethiopia provides refuge to over one million refugees and asylum seekers who are in dire need of humanitarian support. AS