UN agencies warn of ‘unabated’ rise in hunger in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE (CMC):

The World Food Programme (WFP) Tuesday warned that at least 4.5 million Haitians are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity as it pointed to lower-than-expected humanitarian food assistance and continued fallout from the last August earthquake as key drivers.

“Hunger levels are rising unabated as persistent political instability, growing inflation and recurrent disasters continue to conspire against the people of Haiti,” the agency said.

In a briefing to reporters from the Haitian capital, WFP Country Director Pierre Honnorat warned that the situation is worrisome, “being the worst registered since 2018.

“Haiti forms part of a ‘ring of fire’ encircling the globe where climate shocks, conflict, COVID-19, and rising costs are pushing vulnerable communities over the edge,” he said.

According to recent projections, 45 per cent of the population will be in severe hunger from March to June, and of those, more than 1.3 million are estimated to be in the emergency phase of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Food unaffordable

The ongoing economic crisis in Haiti, characterised by a weakening currency against the US dollar, soaring inflation, and a hike in fuel prices in previous months, has reduced the purchasing power of many poorer households, making basics like food unaffordable.

Furthermore, global food prices are at an all-time high, with the Ukraine crisis continuing to have a direct impact on food security.

UN humanitarians in Haiti warned that it would likely continue to hurt vulnerable people in the highly import-dependent island nation.

Honnorat reminded that 70 per cent of goods in Haiti’s stores are imported, and said the food insecurity “situation can only worsen if we don’t support Haiti.

“This is also fuelling insecurity, migration and sexual exploitation,” he said, calling for more international support.

“It’s everything about those coping mechanisms that the population has to go for. And it’s different, they have to change their diet, they have to reduce their meals; but it also brings them to violence, it also leads some of them to prostitution,” Honnorat said.

Detailing with the situation in Haiti, Patrick David, senior programme manager at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), also briefing from Port-au-Prince, spoke further on the Ukraine crisis’ impact in perpetuating food insecurity.

“Haiti imports lots of food and fertilisers and the increase of prices in these products will contribute even more to inflation, which is already high in the country,” David said.

Honnorat added that the wheat that Haiti imports “is mainly coming from Russia and then coming from Canada as well … so if the wheat flour is going up, you will see a problem and the price has already multiplied by five in two years. So, we can only expect that it will multiply again.”