KATHMANDU, MAY 03

Hunger almost always follows conflict. Conflict negatively impacts economic activity and disrupts access to markets - often affecting smallholder farmers more acutely.

And as recent events have shown, when countries at war are large exporters of food like Ukraine and Russia, people living thousands of miles away can be impacted by a halt in exports of essential agricultural commodities such as wheat, sunflower oil, and fertilisers.

The effects of malnutrition on a society can last decades. Declines in childhood development, economic productivity, and people's general well-being are just some of the lingering effects of acute food insecurity.

In February 2022, 282 million people were experiencing hunger in Africa, more than double the proportion of any other region in the world.

Conditions are deteriorating across East Africa, where 7.2 million people are at risk of starvation and another 26.5 million face acute food insecurity.

The situation in African countries experiencing fragility, conflict and violence is much worse compared to in non-FCV countries.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 04, 2022, of The Himalayan Times