By Aminu Adamu
West and Central Africa is heading into a worsening hunger emergency as sharp cuts in humanitarian funding collide with rising violence, mass displacement and economic strain, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.
According to new projections, about 55 million people across the region are expected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse during the June–August 2026 lean season, while more than 13 million children are likely to suffer from malnutrition over the year.
The figures, drawn from the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis, the regional equivalent of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), indicate a dramatic deterioration. More than three million people are projected to fall into emergency food insecurity (Phase 4) in 2026, more than double the 1.5 million recorded in 2020.
Four countries, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, account for 77 per cent of the region’s food-insecure population. In a stark warning sign, 15,000 people in Nigeria’s Borno State are now at risk of catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) for the first time in nearly a decade.
“Vital humanitarian aid is a transformative and stabilizing force in volatile contexts,” said Sarah Longford, WFP’s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “The reduced funding we saw in 2025 has deepened hunger and malnutrition across the region. As needs outpace funding, so too does the risk of young people falling into desperation.”
Conflict, displacement and shrinking aid
WFP said hunger across the region is being driven by a toxic mix of armed conflict, population displacement, economic shocks and climate stress, now compounded by reductions in humanitarian assistance that have eroded communities’ coping capacity.
In Mali, cuts to food rations have had a measurable impact. Areas that received reduced assistance recorded a 64 per cent surge in acute hunger since 2023, while communities that continued to receive full rations saw a 34 per cent decline. Ongoing insecurity has also disrupted food supply routes to major cities, leaving an estimated 1.5 million vulnerable Malians facing crisis-level hunger.
In Nigeria, funding shortfalls in 2025 forced WFP to scale back nutrition programmes, affecting over 300,000 children. Since then, malnutrition indicators in several northern states have worsened from “serious” to “critical,” according to humanitarian assessments.
Millions at risk of losing assistance
The outlook for the coming months is increasingly bleak. In Cameroon, WFP warned that more than half a million vulnerable people could be cut off from life-saving food assistance within weeks if fresh funding does not materialise.
In Nigeria, assistance levels have already dropped sharply. WFP expects to reach only 72,000 people in February, a steep fall from the 1.3 million people supported during the 2025 lean season, raising fears of escalating hunger and instability.
Proof that investment works
Despite the grim outlook, WFP stressed that adequate funding delivers clear, measurable results. Resilience and early-action programmes, particularly in the Sahel, have shown strong economic returns. Land restoration projects, for instance, generate up to $30 for every dollar invested.
Since 2018, WFP and local communities have rehabilitated 300,000 hectares of farmland across five countries, benefiting more than four million people in over 3,400 villages. Other programmes, including school feeding, nutrition support, infrastructure development and seasonal assistance, have helped stabilise local economies and reduce long-term dependence on aid.
“To break the cycle of hunger for future generations, we need a paradigm shift in 2026,” Longford said. “National governments and their partners must increase investment in preparedness, anticipatory action, and resilience-building to empower communities.”
Urgent funding appeal
To sustain life-saving operations across West and Central Africa, WFP said it urgently needs more than $453 million over the next six months. Without swift action, the agency warned, hunger risks becoming a powerful driver of further unrest, displacement, and conflict across an already fragile region.
