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UN agencies warn of deteriorating food security in Southern Madagascar

by IBNS 28 Oct 2015, 08:10 pm

New York, Oct 29 (IBNS): Leading food agencies of the United Nations warned that 46 per cent of the population from eight regions of Madagascar, comprising of 1.9 million people are food insecure, including 450,000 people who face chronic food insecurity.

The UN agencies also announced deliverance of a number of programmes in the country with an aim to eliminate hunger, improve nutrition, promote sustainable agriculture and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal Two of the recently adopted Agenda 2030.

According to the Crop and Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM), an assessment by the Government of Madagascar, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), the highest food insecurity rates are found in the island's drought-hit southern regions of Androy, Anosy and Atsimo Andrefana where 380,000 people, totalling 30 per cent of the population are severely affected.

“The current situation requires real action from a range of actors to help vulnerable people recover and to avert a deterioration in the food security situation,” said Patrice Talla Takoukam, FAO Representative in Madagascar in a press release, adding that the recent food security assessments have not of themselves been sufficient to address the crisis.

The UN agencies said that a significant decrease in food production during the past three agricultural seasons due to recurrent shortage of rainfall has been the causes for food insecurity in the region.

They also reported that many households are resorting to negative coping strategies, such as sale of assets, reducing their number of daily meals, withdrawing children from school and consuming wild foods such as cactus fruit.

“When households adopt negative coping strategies, their resilience to shocks decreases,” said WFP Country Director Willem Van Milink.