ISLAMABAD: Around 135 million people across 44 countries experienced acute food insecurity at the close of 2019, said the Global Report on Food Crises 2020 released on Tuesday.

The report, jointly published by an international alliance of UN, governmental and non-governmental agencies, said a total of 183m people were living in stressed condition at the cusp of acute hunger and at risk of slipping into crisis or worse if faced with a shock or stressor, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

The food crises, as well as lack of access to dietary energy and diversity, safe water, sanitation and health care will continue to create high levels of child malnutrition, while the pandemic is likely to overburden health systems in these countries.

The key drivers behind the food crises as analysed by the report include conflict, extreme weather and economic turbulence.

Around 43m people were estimated to be acutely food insecure and in need of urgent assistance across ten countries in the Middle East and South and South East Asia, including Pakistan.

With a rural poverty headcount close to 50pc, Sindh and Balochistan have the highest rural and urban poverty rates. The provinces have experienced drought-like conditions since 2013 and 2016, and the situation worsened during the last quarter of 2018 with adverse effects on rural livelihoods, cereal production and livestock.

Over 3m people — representing more than half of the population analysed in 21 rural, drought-affected districts in Balochistan and Sindh — were in crisis or worse during the period between October 2018 and July 2019. Of these, more than 1m people faced emergency conditions.

The acute food insecurity forecasts for 2020 were produced before Covid-19 became a pandemic and do not account for its likely impact. The combined effects of conflict, macroeconomic crisis, climate-related shocks and crop pests, including fall army-worm and desert locusts, were likely to worsen the crisis.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2020