FAO warns of food insecurity in Yemen

On Wednesday, the FAO said that nearly11 million people in Yemen are severely food insecure and millions more at risk of being unable to meet their basic needs.

“We are entering a crucial period for crop production in Yemen and now, more than ever, agriculture cannot be an afterthought if we want to prevent more people from becoming food insecure amidst this crisis,” said Salah Hajj Hassan, the FAO representative for Yemen.

Increasing conflict in nearly all major towns across Yemen is disrupting markets and trade, driving up local food prices and hampering agricultural production, including land preparation and planting for the 2015 harvests, according to the FAO.

The UN agency also called for USD eight million in funding to support farmers amid the escalating crisis.

The warning comes as Saudi Arabia continues to defy international calls for a halt to its deadly airstrikes on Yemen. Riyadh does not even allow for a safe passage of sufficient aid to be delivered to Yemenis.

Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen, which is being carried out without a United Nations mandate, has claimed the lives of almost 2,600 people.

Yemen has been under Saudi airstrikes since March 26, in a campaign aimed at restoring power to the country's fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

On Monday, Colonel Sharaf Luqman, the spokesman for Yemen’s armed forces and popular committees, said that civilians and Yemeni infrastructure have been the target of the Saudi aggression.
/SR