FAO calls for urgent investment to protect food production as crises deepen across the Near East and North Africa

More than 45 million people face severe hunger across Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria and Yemen

The FAO delegation’s visit to Lebanon highlighted how conflict and displacement affect agriculture and rural communities.

Amman/Beirut/Riyadh/Rome – As conflict, displacement, and climate pressures continue to drive high levels of acute food insecurity across the Near East and North Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is calling for urgent funding for emergency agricultural assistance to help families continue producing food and earning an income.  

Conflict and economic shocks are undermining the region’s food productive capacity, while funding shortfalls are limiting assistance to protect food production and livelihoods.

FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa AbdulHakim Elwaer, and Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience Rein Paulsen met governments, donors and partners to highlight agriculture's critical role in preventing food insecurity from worsening, protecting livelihoods and supporting recovery.

Across these countries, more than 45 million people face crisis-level hunger or worse, as conflict and economic shocks are derailing food production destroying agricultural infrastructure and disrupting markets.

“Repeated shocks are stripping families of their ability to produce food and earn an income—just as humanitarian resources are becoming increasingly constrained,” said Bechdol. “We must act before those losses become irreversible. Investing early in seeds, livestock, water and other agricultural support can protect livelihoods, prevent hunger from deepening and reduce humanitarian needs over time.”