The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has called for urgent funding for emergency agricultural assistance across the Near East and North Africa, where conflict, displacement, economic shocks and climate pressures are eroding the region's capacity to produce food. More than 45 million people in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria and Yemen face crisis-level hunger or worse, the agency said.
The appeal followed a mission by FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa AbdulHakim Elwaer, and Rein Paulsen, Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, who met governments, donors and partners in Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. FAO says the shocks are destroying farm infrastructure and disrupting markets while funding shortfalls limit the help it can give.
The figures country by country are stark. In Gaza and the West Bank, more than 1.2 million people faced Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity between April and June 2026, and FAO is seeking $140.9 million for 2027. In Lebanon, 1.24 million people are projected to be in that situation between April and August 2026; FAO needs $38 million to reach 35,000 conflict-affected farmers and rural households. In Sudan, 19.5 million people face high acute food insecurity, but only 23 percent of the $193 million under the 2026-2028 Emergency Response Plan has been funded. Syria had about 7.2 million people in acute food insecurity in late 2025, and FAO wants $171.5 million in 2027 to assist 5.2 million people. In Yemen, 18.3 million people were in Crisis or worse, and FAO has secured less than 1 percent of the $87.9 million its 2027 plan requires.
The help FAO means is practical: seeds, livestock feed, veterinary services, cash and vouchers, irrigation support and other inputs that let families keep producing food during a crisis. The agency said its assistance in Gaza has let farmers resume production and helped livestock-keeping households keep sources of food and income, and that in Sudan it has reached almost five million people in 2026 with seeds, livestock vaccination, animal feed and input vouchers.
"When a farmer receives seed before the planting season, or a livestock keeper receives feed and veterinary support before animals are lost, we are protecting food today and the means to produce it tomorrow," Elwaer said. "But this only works if resources arrive in time."
In Lebanon the delegation saw the damage at first hand. More than one million people, mainly from rural areas, were displaced after the March 2026 escalation. Between 55 and 65 percent of the population of the southern districts of Bent Jbeil, Marjaayoun, El Nabatieh and Sour is projected to face Crisis or worse. More than 22 percent of the country's agricultural land has reportedly been damaged, and about half of the farmland in South and Nabatieh cannot be reached. In Nabatieh, FAO's team assessed damage to farmland and irrigation with farmers, cooperatives and Ministry of Agriculture staff.
Bechdol said restoring agriculture "cannot wait until after the emergency". FAO is also helping Lebanon turn its new 10-year National Agriculture Strategy and Investment Plan into investment, with a focus on restoring production, using water more efficiently and making the farm sector more competitive. The agency asked donors to keep up and increase support so that farming, herding and fishing communities get help before their losses become irreversible.
Source: FAO Newsroom
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