Two million lives at stake: UN warns Myanmar's Rakhine faces looming food crisis
YANGON, Myanmar – According to a recent United Nations report, Myanmar’s war-torn Rakhine state may face imminent famine, putting more than two million people at risk of starvation.
“Rakhine’s economy has stopped functioning,” according to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) assessment released late Thursday.
It predicted “famine conditions by mid-2025” if existing levels of food insecurity in the western state bordering Bangladesh, where the stateless Rohingya live, were not addressed.
According to UNDP, almost two million people are at risk of starvation.
According to the agency, rice production in Rakhine has fallen due to seed and fertilizer shortages, extreme weather, and displaced people who cannot farm.
“Rakhine stands on the edge of an unprecedented disaster,” the UNDP stated in its study.
“Combined with the near-total halt of trade, over two million people are at risk of starvation,” according to the statement.
“Without urgent action, 95 percent of the population will regress into survival mode.”
Due to constraints imposed by Myanmar’s military administration, assistance agencies such as the Red Cross have struggled to assess humanitarian needs and distribute aid.
According to Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, who reported from Bangkok, the region can now only produce 20% of its food requirements.
“The Rohingya are at the center of this crisis. Those who are fortunate enough have managed to cross the border into Bangladesh. However, millions remain, and their situation will deteriorate more,” he concluded.
The UNDP reported that the number of internally displaced people in Rakhine increased by more than 60% between October 2023 and August of this year, with more than 500,000 now reliant only on charity.
Myanmar has been in upheaval since the military deposed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected administration in 2021, sparking widespread protests that escalated into an armed insurrection on many fronts.
Violence has escalated in Rakhine since the collapse of a truce between the Arakan Army (AA) and the military last November. Rebels have since made significant gains.
With almost three million people uprooted and much of the country in disorder, humanitarian help is crucial in Myanmar.