The WFP Regional Director Lola Castro claimed at a press conference that such a rough situation crops up following the region showed recovery signs at the end of 2021 after the first impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It also meant that this crisis is present as the number of people facing up a severe food insecurity situation had by then been reduced to 8.3 million in nations where WFP serves, compared to 17.2 million at the climax of the pandemic.

Ms. Castro said the domino effect of multiple climatic phenomena, as well as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the food, energy and financial crisis closely related to the Ukraine conflict, leaves about 9.7 million people in pressing need of being aided, only in the 13 regional nations where WFP is present too.

According to WFP´s forecasts, if action is not taken now, it is likely that the number of people with serious food insecurity in those regional nations will rise to about 13.3 million in coming months.

According to WFP, its major concern is the fact that millions of Latin Americans cannot access to an adequate commodity bundle, since it is now too expensive, so many cannot guarantee their daily food intake. The Americas´ food-at-home prices now ranges from 11 to a staggering 26.6% in some regional countries, including Haiti. In addition, in so far as global fuel price scales up, the impact in Latin America is quite evident, according to the WFP director, who also assured that the price of transporting a ton of food has multiplied by seven in the last two years, an activity that affects especially the Caribbean nations.

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