By Eulalia Berlanga
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), with support from the Government of Japan, is finalising its lean season response in drought-affected Kapoeta this month, providing families with humanitarian food assistance to cope with the extreme dry conditions that have decimated crops and livelihoods.
Across the entire country, Japan has provided funding to help WFP reach more than 25,000 people this lean season, keeping hunger and starvation at bay for families most in need. In total, WFP plans to support more than 5.7 million people with humanitarian assistance before the end of the year.
Japan’s Ambassador TSUTSUMI Naohiro stated “Japan has been cooperating with WFP by providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to improve the food security in South Sudan since the early days of independence. The total amount of Japanese support via WFP South Sudan is more than 44 million US dollars since 2016. We believe that the Food Assistance Programme with WFP is fully aligned with Japan’s commitment to contribute to the realization of Human Security in South Sudan as food security is critical precondition for ensuring it. Japan will continue to support the country’s effort to improve food security through departing from reliance on humanitarian aid in collaboration with WFP.”
In Kapoeta, the lean season runs January-July when extreme dry conditions lead to significant food shortages for communities. Climate shocks are pushing South Sudan to its limits, with floods in the north and drought in the south-east affecting millions of vulnerable families.
Kapoeta is one of the worst affected areas, experiencing the effects of the Horn of Africa drought with two consecutive years of exceptionally dry conditions. The dire situation is further exacerbated by increasing prices of food and fuel, combined with the rapid depreciation of the South Sudanese Pound. As a result, the number of food insecure people in the region has risen by 20% since December 2022.
“What we’re seeing in Kapoeta is becoming more and more common across the country: families and farmers that were once able to provide for themselves are now on the frontline of the climate crisis and having to turn to WFP for assistance,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Representative to South Sudan. “Floods in the north and drought in the south-east are having untold consequences as families lose their homes and livelihoods, no longer able to cultivate crops and watching their cattle perish in front of their eyes. Support for humanitarian food assistance is becoming increasingly critical and every contribution helps families put food on the table.”
Nari Lotede and her children are among those in need of WFP assistance for the first time. Nari used to grow okra, maize, and sorghum, but after her crops died she was forced to rely on humanitarian food assistance to support her seven children.
“Before receiving this food I collected wild fruits to eat and charcoal to sell in the market, but sometimes I wouldn’t sell it and I would go to sleep hungry,” she says.
Nari is from Riwoto, a village from Kapoeta North County in the Greater Kapoeta region. A traditionally pastoralist area, the lack of water has also affected cattle as water bodies dry up and livestock perish.
“I hope I can start planting food again to support my children. I want them to go to school and have a better future,” says Nari.
Like 2.8 million other children in South Sudan, 4 of Nari’s children are out of school as she lacks the funds to send all of them.
To incentivize parents to send their children to school and ensure they eat at least one nutritious meal a day, WFP provides school meals to 440,000 students across the country with support from donors, including the Government of Japan which has contributed almost US$2.4 million dollars to both WFP’s Emergency and School Meals operations in South Sudan this year. In the most food insecure communities, this school meal is sometimes the only nutritious food children receive each day.
In Kapoeta North, St. Mary Magdalene School saw a sharp increase in the number of students attending class after WFP started providing school meals.
“When I came in 2019 we only had 700 students in the school, now it has almost doubled with 1252 today,” says Sister Mary Nkatha, Head Teacher of the school. “This is because of the School Meals programme.”
Students at St. Mary Magdalene School usually have peas with sorghum or rice for lunch, helping them concentrate and perform better during class. Photo: WFP/Eulalia Berlanga
“If you don’t eat you won’t concentrate well and you’ll be bored at class, but food gives you energy to concentrate on what teachers are telling you,” says Nelson Freed Feudo, a Primary 8 student at St. Mary Magdalene.
Humanitarian food assistance and resilience-building programmes are critical as communities grapple with a growing climate crisis and deteriorating economic conditions, supporting them to build a better future.
