By Devjyot Ghoshal
(Reuters) -More than a million people in Myanmar will be cut off from life-saving food assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) from next month because of critical shortfalls in funding, the latest cut in humanitarian support from the U.N. agency.
“These cuts come just as increased conflict, displacement and access restrictions are already sharply driving up food aid needs,” WFP said on Friday, warning that the cuts would affect groups that were entirely reliant on it for food.
WFP, which describes itself as the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, has said in recent months that a lack of funding would mean cuts to operations in Afghanistan, parts of Africa and refugee camps in Bangladesh – leaving millions of people hungry.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021 when the military seized power from an elected civilian government, sparking a protest movement that has expanded into a nationwide armed rebellion.
Nearly 20 million people in Myanmar are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, and an estimated 15.2 million – about a third of the country’s population – are facing acute food insecurity, according to U.N. human rights experts.
A junta spokesman did not respond to a call from Reuters.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday was in the world’s largest refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, where more than one million Rohingya face a halving of their WFP-backed food rations to just $6 per month from April.
“I can promise that we will do everything to avoid it,” Guterres told reporters during his visit to the camps, where the Rohingya already live in poverty.
“I will be talking to all countries in the world that can support us in order to make sure that funds are made available.”
WFP did not elaborate on the funding shortfall and whether it was due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to cut U.S. foreign aid globally.
It said it needed $60 million to maintain its food assistance operations in Myanmar this year.
The agency said the cuts would affect communities across Myanmar, including around 100,000 internally displaced people comprising the minority Muslim Rohingya communities and others.
“WFP is also deeply concerned about the upcoming lean season – from July to September – when food shortages hit hardest,” the statement said.
The conflict in Myanmar, which has engulfed swathes of the country, has contaminated farmland with landmines and unexploded ordnance and destroyed agricultural equipment, making local food production more challenging, according to U.N. human rights experts.
“Even where arable land exists, there is a shortage of workers due to massive displacement and people fleeing conscription by the military,” they said in a statement on Thursday.
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Sam Jahan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Kate Mayberry and Angus MacSwan)
