UN's World Food Program warns donor cuts are pushing millions more into hunger

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ROME (AP) — The United Nations' food aid agency said Wednesday that severe funding cuts from its top donors are especially hurting its operations in six countries and warned that nearly 14 million people could be forced into emergency levels of hunger.

The World Food Program, traditionally the U.N.'s most-funded agency, said in a new report that its funding this year “has never been more challenged” — largely due to slashed outlays from the U.S. under the Trump administration and other leading Western donors.

It warned that 13.7 million of its food aid recipients could be forced into emergency levels of hunger as funding is cut. The countries facing “major disruptions” are Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, it said.

“We are watching the lifeline for millions of people disintegrate before our eyes,” Executive Director Cindy McCain said.

WFP said it expects to receive 40% less funding this year, leading to a projected budget of $6.4 billion — after receiving some $10 billion last year, and it has been reducing what was a staff of 22,000 by about 6,000 posts.

“This is not just a funding gap – it’s a reality gap between what we need to do and what we can afford to do,” McCain said in a statement. “We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger."

The Rome-based agency says global hunger is already at record levels, with 319 million people facing acute food insecurity — including 44 million at emergency levels. Famine has broken out in Gaza and Sudan.

In Afghanistan, food assistance is reaching less than 10% of people who are food insecure — meaning that they don't know where their next meal will come from, the agency said.

WFP says it has received about $1.5 billion from the United States this year, down from nearly $4.5 billion last year, while other top donors have also cut funding.

Many United Nations organizations, including the migration, health and refugee agencies, have announced sharp aid and staffing cuts this year because of reduced support from traditional big donors. The humanitarian aid community has also been affected by sharp cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP's head of food security and nutrition analysis, said the cuts from the United States — traditionally, and still, WFP's biggest donor — "have been substantial for the entire humanitarian community, and for WFP specifically.”

“All major donors to WFP have curtailed their funding to WFP. It’s not one donor. It’s almost all of the major donors to the organization,” Bauer said in an interview. “It’s not just WFP that’s impacted, it’s also other large humanitarian agencies.”

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Keaten reported from Geneva.

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An earlier version corrected this article to make clear that the WFP has received about $1.5 billion from the United States this year, not that this is the amount the agency expects.