Some 4.5 million people in Colombia face severe levels of acute food insecurity, according to the Global Report on Food Crises.
The majority of these people were migrants, said the report that was published by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC).
According to the report, 2.9 million foreigners, or 62% of the migrant population, face high levels of food insecurity.
Fourteen percent of migrants face severe acute food insecurity.
Another 1.6 million people, or 3% of Colombia’s citizens and residents, face severe levels of acute food insecurity, said the GNAFC.
Acute food insecurity is when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger, the report explained.
“The severity of food insecurity was higher in rural areas and particularly in the departments of La Guajira, Sucre, Caqueta, Cordoba, Arauca and Putumayo,” said the GNAFC.
Provinces with high levels of food insecurity
The particularly high levels of food insecurity in these provinces was “mostly due to low incomes and high vulnerability to weather extremes.”
Throughout 2023 and 2024, weather phenomenon El Niño threatened the food security of more than 9 million people in Colombia.
The situation became more precarious because of ongoing armed conflict.
“The acute food insecurity of migrants and refugees is intrinsically linked to lack of economic opportunities,” said the GNAFC.
Resident populations were better positioned to benefit from a general improvement in the macroeconomic picture in 2023, with a slight improvement in the employment rate and a decrease in the headline inflation rate to 9 percent at the end of 2023. Food inflation decreased throughout the year from 26 percent in January 2023 to 5 percent by December.
Global Network Against Food Crises
The government of President Gustavo Petro made the reduction of violence and poverty some of his flagship policies after taking office in August 2022.
The government has been criticized for ignoring the plight of migrants.