Hard-Won Food Solutions Are Disappearing

Danielle Nierenberg

Danielle Nierenberg

Last year, 343 million people were experiencing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). That’s 10 percent higher than in 2023.

And in the midst of a food insecurity crisis around the world, funding is being slashed for programs on the front lines of delivering food aid, fighting for humanitarianism, and literally saving lives. 

We’re seeing this play out not only in the United States, as we’ve discussed in this newsletter and reported on at Food Tank, but worldwide. WFP is facing a 40 percent drop in funding for 2025 compared to 2024. This has created what WFP calls an “unprecedented crisis for tens of millions across the globe reliant on food aid.” 

“For the past two years, despite the generosity of many governments and individual donors, WFP has experienced a steady decline in funding. These cuts are pushing tens of millions of people who depend on WFP toward catastrophic hunger,” said Barron Segar, World Food Program USA President and CEO. “Never have the stakes been higher. We urgently need an infusion of support from individuals and the private sector here in the U.S. to help continue WFP’s lifesaving work.” 

On social media, WFP did not mince words: Putting food aid in jeopardy “could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”

WFP’s current funding situation puts more than 58 million people at risk of losing life-saving assistance in the agency’s 28 most critical crisis response operations. This hits children especially hard: Sweeping cuts to global nutrition funding could result in a staggering 369,000 additional child deaths every year, per a new analysis published in Nature.

This week, I want to highlight some of the work that WFP conducts globally, including emergency assistance in conflict areas, social safety programs, and climate adaptation and resilience-building in 120+ countries. These life-saving measures could disappear if the organization does not receive the proper funding it needs.

MYANMAR 

The Challenges: Prior to a recent 7.7-magnitude earthquake, 15.2 million people here were already food-insecure—and the natural disaster has only made things trickier. Not to mention that the hunger season, when agricultural food shortages are most acute, tends to start around July.

What Solutions Are At Risk: Right now, without about US$60 million in urgent funding, more than 1.2 million people could be cut off from life-saving food assistance this month. Beyond food, WFP is also providing specialized nutritious foods and counseling for tuberculosis patients and people receiving treatment for HIV, to support treatment and recovery.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 

The Challenges: Violence by militia groups is escalating in the east and has displaced more than a million people, and food insecurity is at crisis levels for more than 28 million people. And about 3.7 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished.

What Solutions Are At Risk: Last year, WFP was able to support 5.4 million people with food, cash, and other interventions to combat malnutrition and boost resilience—and today, WFP estimates about 6.4 million farmers, schoolchildren, women business owners, and more are in need of the organization’s support. This work cannot continue without about US$399 million in aid, WFP estimates.

NIGERIA 

The Challenges: In the upcoming mid-summer hunger season, 33.1 million Nigerians are expected to face severe food shortages.

What Solutions Are At Risk: Without an influx of new funding—about US$620 million—life-saving food and nutrition assistance in both Nigeria and the broader Central Sahel region will halt this month. And more than 3,000 users at 90+ humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations rely on WFP’s Emergency Telecommunications Service (ETS) for internet access.

UKRAINE 

The Challenges: Due largely to Russia’s war, more than 5 million people are in need of food and livelihood assistance, and agriculture has been decimated: The war has turned vast farmlands into minefields, and the ag sector has suffered about US$80 billion in damage.

What Solutions Are At Risk: In recent years, WFP has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance and countless food kits and student meals to frontline areas—about 82 percent of which is sourced from within the country, to support the economy. WFP is also clearing mines from small-scale agricultural land and supporting the land’s safe return to food production.

BOLIVIA 

The Challenges: WFP is seeing the effects of worsening extreme weather conditions, such as floods and droughts, which impact agriculture and food access, increase poverty, and exacerbate food insecurity especially among rural and Indigenous people.

What Solutions Are At Risk: WFP is able to provide direct assistance and skills-development programs for small-scale Indigenous farmers experiencing food insecurity, to boost their understanding of entrepreneurship, e-commerce, and resilient agriculture systems.

ETHIOPIA 

The Challenges: Because of weather extremes, economic shocks, and conflicts, hunger in Ethiopia is particularly dire. About 5.5 million people are food insecure, alongside more than 1 million refugees who also rely on food assistance.

What Solutions Are At Risk: In 2024, WFP was able to reach 7.7 million people with food support; 620,000 people with initiatives that provide seeds, market access, and other technologies to build resilience and break the cycle of food-insecurity; and about 400,000 school-aged children with daily meals every month. In order for this work to continue just over the next month, WFP needs about US$338 million. 

Here's the truth: When funding is taken away from humanitarian organizations like the World Food Programme, people will die. 

These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet—these are millions of people going hungry and having their lives torn apart by a wealthy nation’s unwillingness to support our fellow human beings.

Let me repeat words I quoted earlier from WFP USA President and CEO Barron Segar: The stakes have never been higher.

If our political leaders are not going to step up, we need to. Last month, the WFP launched an Emergency Hunger Relief Fund, aimed at raising even a small portion of the money they urgently need to continue their work. If you feel so moved, you can donate as an individual. What I really hope we’ll see is a mobilization of philanthropies, investors, private-sector leaders, and others to help support global food relief and the food system.

Ending hunger should not be a political or partisan question. And even if funding for these programs is ultimately restored—which would certainly be a victory—it’s still unacceptable in the first place that people’s lives and livelihoods can vanish in an instant.

Building sustainable, long-lasting food security around the globe is a moral imperative, and it’s possible to accomplish within our lifetimes. When we all work together and pitch in what we can—from creative individuals like Food Tankers and governments to the private-sector funders and philanthropic foundations—I truly believe a better food system is possible. Let’s get to work!

(Danielle Nierenberg is the President of Food Tank and can be reached at danielle@foodtank.com)