The number of hungry people in South Sudan is “likely higher” than before, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A new report by the World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations published on Friday says.
“In South Sudan, the combination of conflict, macroeconomic challenges, a desert locust invasion, natural hazards and COVID-19, overlapping with the peak of the May to July lean season threatens to further deteriorate already alarmingly high food-insecurity levels.”
The document shows that COVID-19 related restrictions have disrupted livelihood activities such as farming and fishing. The report further outlined, inter communal fighting, locust, flood, and inaccessibility to seeds as causes of food shortage.
According to the report, 6.5 million people in South Sudan before the outbreak of the Coronavirus were already facing hunger. Last year, agriculture was affected by floods resulting to low food production.