It has been disclosed that three out of four households living in northern regions of Mali are going through a terrible period of food insecurity and are heavily in need of food assistance.

This situation was revealed by an Emergency Food Security Assessment conducted jointly by the Government of Mali, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and 15 other partners.

CEOAFRICA gathered that the most vulnerable people in Northern Mali, estimated around 1.3 million, have had little chance to recover following the recent conflict and last year’s food and nutrition crisis as a result of erratic rains.

According to WFP, US$67 million is required to scale up operation in the north until the end of the lean season, providing vital food assistance to the most vulnerable population and responding to the nutritional needs of children, pregnant and lactating women.

FAO on the other hand said it requires US12 million contributions to protect and restore the livelihoods of vulnerable households in the north part of the country, providing agricultural quality inputs, veterinary inputs for livestock and fishing gear for 420,000 vulnerable people, enabling them to produce food as early as December 2013.

This contribution is however estimated to help the Government of Mali, FAO and WFP to save lives and livelihoods by providing food assistance and agricultural productive means to the most vulnerable people in the Northern regions of Timbuktu, Gao, Kidal and Mopti.