CONTEXT:

• More than 113 million people across 53 countries experienced acute hunger last year because of wars and climate disasters.
• United Nations body, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in its 2019 global report, today said Africa was the worst-hit region.
• It said Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Syria were among the eight nations accounting for two-thirds of the total number of people worldwide exposed to the risk of famine.
• Launched three years ago, the annual study takes stock of the countries facing the greatest difficulties.
• FAO’s emergencies director Dominique Bourgeon said African states were disproportionally affected as close to 72 million people on the continent suffered acute hunger.
• Conflict and insecurity remained key factors, along with economic turbulence and climate-related shocks like drought and floods, the report found.
• Bourgeon said up to 80 per cent of the population depend on agriculture in the affected regions.