MOGADISHU, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Somalia and United Nations agencies on Wednesday appealed for adequate funding, warning that drought, conflict, and high food prices could push 4.4 million people into hunger.

The Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Children's Fund, and the UN World Food Program (WFP) said in a joint statement issued in the Somali capital of Mogadishu that acute funding shortfalls have resulted in the reduction or elimination of life-saving programs.

"The UN is calling for more urgent funding to scale up food assistance, nutrition support, water and sanitation services, as well as livelihood initiatives to mitigate the impacts of the expected drought in Somalia," the statement said.

According to the UN agencies, only 12.4 percent of the 1.42-billion-U.S.-dollar Somalia 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan has been funded.

The UN agencies warned that without sustained funding for humanitarian action, the country, which in 2022 was pushed to the brink of famine by severe drought, resulting in thousands of deaths, with nearly half being children, could once again face deepening hunger.

Etienne Peterschmitt, the FAO country representative for Somalia, said worsening drought, erratic rainfall, and ongoing conflict are eroding livelihoods, pushing families deeper into crisis.

"Through early warning systems and anticipatory action, we help communities prepare for shocks before they escalate, mitigating the worst impacts of food crises," Peterschmitt said.

The warning came as the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which was released on Monday, showed that 3.4 million people are already experiencing crisis levels, or higher, of hunger in Somalia. This number is projected to rise to 4.4 million between April and June when below-average Gu (April to June) rains are forecast.

Mohamuud Moallim, commissioner of the SoDMA, said the worsening drought poses a severe threat to communities already grappling with immense hardship and ongoing conflict.

"These overlapping crises demand immediate, collective, and well-coordinated action to strengthen Somalia's resilience and safeguard our most vulnerable communities," he added.

According to the UN, the hardest-hit households include those with low agricultural yields who have depleted their food stocks, internally displaced persons, and pastoralists with limited livestock and below-average earnings from livestock sales.

Crispen Rukasha, head of the UN Office for the OCHA in Somalia, said recurrent climate shocks, protracted conflict, disease outbreaks, and widespread poverty, among other factors, have aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

An estimated 1.7 million children under the age of five face acute malnutrition through December, according to the IPC analysis.

Of those, 466,000 face severe acute malnutrition, an increase of 9 percent compared to the same period last year. Nearly two-thirds of the total malnutrition burden is concentrated in southern Somalia, where drought conditions and insecurity are the worst.

El-Khidir Daloum, representative and country director of the WFP in Somalia, said recurrent shocks such as droughts are leaving millions of Somalis at risk of hunger as food prices increase and harvests dwindle.

"Famine was narrowly avoided in 2022 due to large-scale humanitarian support, which is needed again to provide immediate assistance while implementing longer-term solutions. However, funding shortfalls are forcing us to prioritize and reduce assistance at the worst possible time," Daloum said.

The IPC findings also confirm that erratic rainfall in 2024 led to low crop yields, rapid depletion of pasture and water sources, flooding of food crops, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Enditem

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