These two regions, together with the Far North, account for more than 60% of the population in a situation of acute food insecurity between October and December 2022, reports Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbairobe.

The European Union has just released the sum of 4.225 million euros or 2.771 billion CFA francs in favour of the North-West and South-West regions, which have been plagued by a security crisis for the past six years. This contribution made through the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Department (Echo) aims to strengthen the response of the World Food Programme (WFP) “to the emergency food needs of 598,000 people and host communities,” according to a press release issued on 30 December 2022 by the UN agency in charge of food.

This contribution from the European Union, a WFP partner, comes three weeks after the presentation of the results of the second “Harmonised Framework for the Identification of Risk Areas and Food and Nutritionally Insecure Populations“. The document unveiled by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbairobe, reveals that 1,051,000 people were severely food insecure between October and December, compared to 2,022,978 people between June and August 2022.

The 60% of the population most affected by this scourge are located in the three crisis regions, with 7 departments affected in the North-West, 5 departments in the South-West and 4 in the Far North. These figures could rise again if nothing is done, given the worsening inflation due to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. “WFP needs to increase its support to the increased food needs in these regions where 1.1 million people are food insecure,” said Wanja Kaaria, WFP representative and country director for Cameroon.