In the face of record food price inflation, skyrocketing fuel costs, and widespread commodity shortages, some 6.26 million Sri Lankans, or three in 10 households, are unsure of where their next meal is coming from.
This is stated in a report released yesterday by the World Food Program (WFP).
As prices keep healthy meals out of reach, some 61 per cent of households are regularly using coping strategies to cut down on costs, such as reducing the amount they eat and consuming increasingly less nutritious meals.
And with opportunities to make enough income in the medium to long-term decreasing for an estimated 200,000 families, the UN food relief agency anticipates that even more people will turn to these coping strategies as the crisis deepens.
To combat the food crisis and its effect on malnutrition, WFP has been distributing monthly food vouchers to pregnant women, valued at $40, in some of the poorest neighborhoods, alongside antenatal care provided by the local government.
The food security situation is worst among people working in the farming estates sector – such as large tea plantations – where more than half of households are food insecure, according to WFP.
To address the downward spiralling situation, last month WFP launched a $60 million emergency appeal for food and nutrition to assist three million of the most at-risk Sri Lankans.
“We must act now before this becomes a humanitarian catastrophe,” warned WFP chief David Beasley in a tweet.
To date, the agency has delivered 88 percent of the first batch of 2,375 vouchers it has available and targeted three million people to receive emergency food, nutrition, and school meals, until December.