Over Half a Million Liberians Face Food Insecurity

A dire humanitarian crisis has struck Liberia, with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reporting that over half a million Liberians are suffering from acute food insecurity.

The FAO, in its latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report,  noted that the situation is alarming, and affects a staggering number of citizens with approximately 21,500 people in emergency food insecurity levels.

“Over 531,000 people in Liberia are projected to be acutely food insecure during the June to August 2023 lean season period, including approximately 21,500 people in CH Phase 4 (Emergency),” the FAO report said.

“[The] acute food insecurity is associated with high food prices due to high international commodity prices and elevated transport costs,” it added. 

Emergency food insecurity refers to households suffering from severe food deprivation. While acute food insecurity occurs when a household or an individual cannot access adequate food, putting their livelihoods in immediate danger.

The alarming FAO assessment, however, comes a few months after the 2022 Global Hunger Index report, claimed that Liberia, which is rich in arable land, suffers from a serious level of hunger which is the second highest in the ECOWAS region behind crisis-hit Niger.

The hunger score for Liberia is 32.4, which is higher than the average hunger score of Africa, which stands at 18 percent, and Africa South of the Sahara, which stands at 27 percent. 

And in Africa South of the Sahara, only Niger performs worse than Liberia, which is the world region with the second-highest hunger index score, slightly below that of South Asia. 

“In the 2022 Global Hunger Index, Liberia ranks 113th out of the 121 countries and, with a score of 32.4, Liberia has a level of hunger that is serious,” the report noted. “Liberia scores 32.4 out of 100 points according to the ranking matrix, [means] hunger level is still high, even though progress has been made in some areas.” 

Hunger in Liberia, according to experts, is primarily driven by low local agricultural productivity and limited availability of agricultural inputs, mechanized equipment, financial capital, and extension services. 

According to the World Bank,   the growing demand for rice in Liberia and the high consumption rate which is more than Nigeria and Ghana was fueling food insecurity and poverty,  and would disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.

The Bank, in a report about the Liberian economy,  which was released last month, noted that over the past 15 years, Liberia has increased its rice consumption at an annual rate of 4.6 percent, reaching 560,000 metric tons in 2021.

The report, which cited data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), named Liberia as the fifth-highest consumer of rice in West Africa and the seventh-highest consumer in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“High population growth, households’ preferences for rice, and changes in income are the main drivers of the demand for rice in Liberia,” the Bank disclosed. 

“A large share of the demand for rice in Liberia is met through imports. The country’s annual rice consumption was 116.5 kilograms per capita, compared to the West African average of 84.5 kg per capita and the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 49.1 kg per capita.”

The report also shows that except for Guinea, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, and Côte d’Ivoire,  Liberia was the 5th largest consumer of rice in West Africa— more than Nigeria, Ghana, and many Sub-Saharan African countries.  

According to the Bank, food insecurity remains a major challenge for Liberia, with more than four-fifths of the population facing moderate or severe food insecurity.

“Amid low production and high demand, the increase in imported rice prices continues to fuel food insecurity, poverty, and vulnerabilities in Liberia,” says Gweh Tarwo, Economist for Liberia at the Bank and main author of the report. 

“Domestic rice production would need to triple to satisfy local demand, but increasing production would require significant investments in the rice sector as well as policy actions,” he emphasized.

Rice imports, the report noted, represent two-thirds of the country’s total consumption, compared to only one-third in 1979 — the year of the rice riots in Monrovia.

In the last decade, it added that imports have increased by 6.5 percent a year to reach 380,000 metric tons in 2021, as domestic supply declined by 0.2 percent a year.

It added that over the same period, the self-sufficiency rate dropped from a peak of 47.9 percent in 2011 to 32.2 percent in 2021, while the country’s import bill for rice has also increased fivefold between 2011 and 2021, growing at 15.6 percent yearly. 

Meanwhile, the FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, also assessed that globally 45 countries, including 33 in Africa, nine in Asia, two in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one in Europe, require external assistance for food.

According to FAO, the 33 countries in Africa that need external assistance for food are Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen need external assistance for food in the Asia region.

Haiti and Venezuela in the Latin America and Caribbean region need external assistance for food, while in Europe, Ukraine needs external assistance for food.

Except for Liberia, the FAO attributed food insecurity in these nations to conflicts, unfavorable weather, droughts, civil insecurity, and macroeconomic challenges.

“Countries in crisis requiring external assistance for food are expected to lack the resources to deal with reported critical problems of food insecurity,” the FAO said. “The list covers crises related to lack of food availability, widespread lack of access to food, or severe but localized problems. GIEWS updates this list four times a year.”