DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) 鈥� The head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning World Food Program says support from donors like the United States and Germany have allowed it to postpone 鈥� though not entirely avert 鈥� but stressed that 鈥渨e鈥檙e not out of this yet.鈥�
WFP Executive Director David Beasley said countries in the Horn of Africa have faced 鈥渦nprecedented climate impact鈥� from , and the U.N. agency had been expecting to announce famine in Somalia before donors 鈥渟tepped up in magnificent ways.鈥�
鈥淎nd we鈥檝e been able to 鈥� I don鈥檛 know if the right word is 鈥榓vert鈥� famine 鈥� but we definitely have ,鈥� he told The Associated Press at the , Switzerland, on Tuesday. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been fortunate so far, given the climate shocks inside Somalia. But we鈥檙e not out of this yet.鈥�
But he warned that 鈥渨e still could end up with a famine technically in Somalia鈥� because 鈥渇amine-like conditions鈥� already exist.
鈥淥nce you officially declare to be a famine, well, it鈥檚 too late,鈥� Beasley said.
Famine is the extreme lack of food and a significant death rate from outright starvation or malnutrition combined with diseases like cholera. A formal famine declaration means data shows more than a fifth of households have extreme food gaps, more than 30% of children are acutely malnourished and over two people out of 10,000 are dying every day.
Beasley, who has announced plans to step down in April, has parlayed his political experience as a former Republican governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina to wrest greater funding for the World Food Program from Washington under both the Biden and Trump administrations.
The United States announced $411 million in additional funding for Somalia鈥檚 crisis last month after a report by the U.N. and other experts said more than 8 million Somalis are badly food insecure because of drought and . Thousands have died.
When Beasley took the job in 2017, some 80 million people worldwide were on the brink of starvation and faced chronic hunger. Conflict, climate change and COVID-19 have caused that to balloon to 350 million today because of economic devastation and supply-chain disruptions.
鈥淵ou think you can鈥檛 get any worse. Then the is shut down: Ukraine," Beasley said. 鈥淣ow (the country has) the longest bread lines in the world,鈥� alluding to that has upended food production and .
There is such demand for food and , that nutrients for crops must get to farmers who need them.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if you love or hate Russia, you got to have the food and the fertilizer," Beasley said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e not careful, we will have a shortage of food by the end of this year, or the that you鈥檒l have destabilization of nations that will result in mass migration.鈥�
Russia has complained that Western sanctions have created obstacles to the export of its food and fertilizers despite a to allow grain and other agricultural supplies to flow through the Black Sea from Russia and Ukraine. Although sanctions don't target food exports, many shipping and insurance companies were reluctant to deal with Moscow, either refusing to do so or greatly increasing the price.
鈥淚t will take several years to develop alternatives around the world. But in the meantime, we鈥檝e got to have that fertilizer and we got to do it in a way that鈥檚 not exploited by Russia," Beasley said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 extremely important.鈥�
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AP journalists Masha Macpherson and David Keyton in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of the World Economic Forum meeting at and the food crisis at .
Jamey Keaten, The Associated Press
