VIENTIANE, March 21 : A joint report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) shows that over a million people in Laos suffered from food insecurity last year.

According to the report, around 71,000 people had severe acute food insecurity, while 1.4 people were estimated to have moderate levels of food insecurity.

Laos was marked as a “country of concern” in August last year after being threatened by food insecurity, according to a 2022 FAO/WFP crop and food security assessment mission Laos report on Laos.

The situation has been exacerbated by a range of factors including high prices of food, fuel, and agricultural inputs, inflationary headwinds for wages and purchasing power, reduced household income, and damage to infrastructure reports Vientiane Times.

The provinces with the highest levels of food insecurity are Attapeu (30 percent) and Luang Namtha (27 percent).

Food insecurity affected up to 17% of households in rural areas, whereas it affected approximately 9% of households in urban areas.

The World Food Program says that 1.7 million people (23 percent of the population) now live on less than USD 1.25 a day.

Many people in Laos are unable to meet their basic food needs, and the situation is likely to remain the same in the coming months.

The WFP hopes that with sustained exploration and support from the government and international partners, the situation in Laos will improve, and food security will be restored.

According to the UN, projections now show the world is no longer on track to achieve its global Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also failing to meet global nutrition targets.

 - ANN