6.9 million individuals within Morocco grapple with insufficient food consumption in Morocco according to the latest report by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
A significant portion of Morocco’s young population faces nutritional challenges, with 2.6 % of children under the age of 5 suffering from acute malnutrition, while a staggering 15.1 % of children in this age group endure chronic malnutrition.
In Rabat – Sale, 17.13% of the population is grappling with insufficient food consumption, highlighting a distressing state of food insecurity. 27.41% of residents in this area are resorting to crisis or even more severe food-based coping mechanisms.
The situation is similar in Casablanca with 17.12% of its populace experiencing inadequate while 21.1% of casablanca’s residents are forced into crisis-level or higher food-based coping strategies.
The prevalence of insufficient food consumption in these areas is registered as moderately low, while Meknes-Tafilalet region, for example, falls into the moderately high category, grappling with 21.44% facing inadequate food intake. 27.42% of the population in this region resorts to crisis food-based coping methods.
Morocco is not alone in facing these food security challenges. Across the globe, a number regions grapple with serious food crises. In Africa, hunger has been on the rise since 2010, with a surge in all subregions in 2020, followed by a more gradual increase in 2021.
In 2022, Africa continued to witness a rise in the Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), reaching 19.7%, equivalent to an additional 11 million individuals facing hunger within a year and an alarming total of nearly 57 million more people since the onset of the pandemic.
This hunger crisis extended throughout all subregions of Africa in 2022. Northern Africa saw its PoU increase from 6.9 % to 7.5 %, impacting nearly 2 million more individuals.
In sub-Saharan Africa, hunger went up from 22.2% to 22.5%, affecting 9 million more people than in 2021. Southern Africa had the highest increase, rising by 1.1 %, followed by Middle Africa, which saw a 0.6% increase.
Western and Eastern Africa witnessed marginal increases of 0.1% points from 2021 to 2022, affecting approximately 1 million more people in Southern Africa, 3 million more in Middle Africa, 3 million more in Eastern Africa, and 2 million more in Western Africa.
All African subregions reported a PoU and numbers of undernourished individuals significantly exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
According to the report, despite the global prevalence of undernourishment remaining relatively stable from 2021 to 2022, hunger escalated in various parts of the world.
The adverse impacts of the Ukraine conflict, rising food prices, and extreme weather events were felt more acutely in some regions than in others.
Globally, food insecurity is more prevalent among adult women than men, with the gender gap widening notably in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For 2022, the food insecurity gender gap appears to have narrowed considerably at the global level. This may partially reflect women’s return to economic activities as pandemic-related restrictions were eased and a weakening of the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on women’s food insecurity.