HARARE –
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is seeking to mobilise US$179.6 million to address escalating food insecurity across Southern Africa, with Zimbabwe among the key beneficiary countries, as the region grapples with the combined pressures of climate shocks, economic fragility and protracted humanitarian crises.
The funding initiative targets eight countries which includes Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However this aims to support 5.3 million vulnerable people whose livelihoods and food systems are under growing strain. The appeal follows FAO’s launch of its first-ever Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal, which calls for a more coordinated, urgent and impact-driven response to acute food insecurity at a time when global humanitarian resources are tightening.
Through the Appeal, FAO is repositioning emergency agricultural assistance at the core of food crisis responses, arguing that protecting food production is as critical as meeting immediate consumption needs. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said the current humanitarian response architecture must evolve to meet the scale and complexity of today’s food crises, ensuring that limited resources deliver maximum and lasting impact.
“Acute food insecurity has tripled since 2016, even with high levels of humanitarian funding. The current model simply does not keep pace with today’s realities,” Dongyu said. “Supporting farmers to maintain production is critical to ensure food availability. When farmers can keep producing, communities stabilize and the path to resilience becomes real.”
At a global level, the 2026 Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal seeks to raise US$2.5 billion to support more than 100 million people across 54 countries and territories. FAO acknowledges that the structural drivers of food insecurity conflict, climate change, economic instability and environmental degradation cannot be sustainably addressed through short-term relief alone. Despite the fact that nearly 90 percent of humanitarian funding is now channelled into long-running emergencies, global hunger levels continue to rise, underscoring the limitations of existing response models.
Approximately 80 percent of people facing acute food insecurity live in rural areas, relying primarily on agriculture-related livelihoods such as farming, herding, fishing and forestry. However, only 5 percent of humanitarian food-sector funding is directed towards agricultural livelihoods, a persistent imbalance that leaves vulnerable households trapped in cycles of dependency and repeated crises.
FAO said that strengthening local food production not only improves food availability but also supports local markets, creates employment and stabilises communities, particularly in fragile contexts such as Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Appeal places strong emphasis on anticipatory action and rapid emergency agricultural support, noting that early interventions deliver high returns on investment. Timely distribution of seeds, livestock vaccination campaigns, rehabilitation of critical infrastructure, provision of farming tools, targeted cash assistance and market-oriented support have consistently proven cost-effective, especially in areas affected by conflict and climate shocks.
Under the 2026 framework, the Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal aims to channel US$1.5 billion towards life-saving emergency interventions benefiting 60 million people, including the provision of seeds and tools, animal health campaigns, rapid livelihood recovery initiatives and cash-based assistance. A further US$1 billion is earmarked for resilience programmes targeting 43 million people, with a focus on climate-smart agrifood solutions, biodiversity protection, food security, water infrastructure development, improved market access and the restoration of agrifood systems.
An additional US$70 million is allocated for global support service.
