U.N. food agencies Wednesday warned that 46 percent of the population from eight regions of Madagascar is food insecure, including 450,000 people who face chronic food insecurity. The agencies also announced deliverance of a number of programs in the country intended 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 World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the highest food insecurity rates were found in the island's drought-hit southern regions of Androy, Anosy, and Atsimo Andrefana where 380,000 people, totaling 30 percent 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," Patrice Talla Takoukam, FAO representative in Madagascar, said in a statement, adding that the recent food security assessments have not of themselves been sufficient to address the crisis. The 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. 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, the United Nations said.
