WFP officials said an estimated 4.4 million Somalis are experiencing crisis-level food insecurity, nearly one million of whom are confronting severe hunger after consecutive failed rainy seasons, prolonged conflict, and declining international humanitarian support. The government declared a national drought emergency in November, marking yet another year of climate-driven shocks across the Horn of Africa.

Ross Smith, the agency’s director of emergency preparedness and response, said the situation is "deteriorating at an alarming rate.” In a written statement, Smith added: "Families have lost everything, and many are already being pushed to the brink. Without immediate emergency food support, conditions will worsen quickly.”

According to WFP, the organisation has already been forced to scale back assistance from 2.2 million people at the start of the year to just over 600,000 today due to depleted resources. Critical nutrition programmes for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and young children have faced steep reductions, raising fears of rising malnutrition during the upcoming lean season.

Humanitarian planners say the current trajectory mirrors conditions in 2022, when Somalia narrowly escaped famine after a surge of international funding. WFP is now seeking $95 million to sustain operations from March through August—support it describes as essential to preventing a slide toward mass hunger.

Smith warned that halting assistance altogether would trigger "devastating humanitarian, security, and economic consequences, with the effects felt far beyond Somalia’s borders,” underscoring the region’s interconnected vulnerability to displacement and instability.