Libyan food insecurity: Hunger threatens third of people, children at risk

The food situation in Libya has worsened with the continuation of the “crisis of the two governments” and the prolongation of the Ukraine war, amid international warnings that a third of Libyans suffer from food insecurity and children suffer from malnutrition diseases.

According to economists who spoke to Jusoor Post, “the absence of the localization of the food industry, neglect of agriculture, and the continuation of internal conflicts will lead to an imminent food crisis.”

In addition to the security chaos since 2011 and the Ukraine war, Libya is suffering from the repercussions of the “crisis of the two governments.” The expired government led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh refuses to hand over power to the government elected by parliament led by FathiBashagha. This disrupts the functioning of the government to provide services.

Also, the fact that armed groups closed the oil fields, the only source of income, affected the purchasing power of Libyans.

Food insecurity crisis

In the latest report of the World Food Programme on the food situation in the Middle East, it was stated that the food situation in Libya is “fragile and dangerous due to the lack of grain and basic commodities as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.”

It pointed out that “almost a third of Libyans suffer from food insecurity, and 1.2 million (out of more than 6 million people) have insufficient food consumption.”

It added that “13% of families have a food security gap, and as a result of the unprecedented rise in prices, spending on food increased by 16.6% to more than 800 dinars per month.”

The World Food Programme estimated that“the number of Libyans who need humanitarian assistance is about 1.3 million people, 699,000 of whom suffer from food insecurity, and some of them benefit from food aid that the program supervises distributed on a monthly basis in a number of areas.”

The total number of beneficiaries of UN program assistance last June alone reached 65,989 people, including 43,992 studentsand2,950 immigrants residing in the country.

Meanwhile, UNICEF announced on September 16the launch of the first Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in Libya. It is a survey program with the participation of 25 employees of the Ministry of Health, the Statistics Office, and the Primary Health Care Institute to assess nutrition for children and women, monitor the extent of deterioration, and prevent nutrition-related deaths.

The flaw in the food system 

In previous statements by the Minister of Economy and Trade in the Government of National Unity, Muhammad Al-Hawij confirmed that his ministry and the government, in general, are facing difficulties in advancing the Libyan economy and maintaining food security.

He said that “the government has lost the compass of food and drug security due to the dominance of some economic extremist ideas, which moved the country from communist socialism to savage capitalism.”

Al-Hawij called on the Ministry of Agriculture to “develop a vision for solving the farmers' problems.”

He urged the Agricultural Bank to “import high-yield seeds, support fertilizers, and grant loans to help farmers improve production and cover local needs.”

The minister stressed “the necessity of activating private and public free zones and establishing a port in Zawiyah.”

He also stressed “the importance of exploiting the southern regions, which are the most important regions of Libya in the distribution of agriculture, especially wheat and solar energy generation.”

Can the crisis be resolved?

Libyan economic analyst SherifAriqib expected that “the current situation will not change due to officials' preoccupation with their political gains and the involvement of service ministries in the battlefield of the political crisis.”

Drawing a picture of the food map in Libya, Ariqib said, “Libya depends for 90% of its food on imports, and there is no plan for food security. Food and agricultural projects have almost disappeared, food stores are dilapidated and do not accommodate large quantities of storage.”

“In addition, investments in agriculture and food industries have always been transferred to foreign investors. With the bad security situation and political fluctuations, no one will venture to put his money in Libya. They also do not see that investing in these areas generates a return like other fields,” he added.

In his opinion, the Ukrainian-Russian war revealed: “the great flaw in the food system in Libya because the available figures confirm that there is not enough agricultural land to feed 5% of the Libyans.”

For his part, Attia Al-Fitouri, Professor of Economics at the University of Benghazi, said that “the main reasons for the imbalance of food security in Libya are that most of the country's lands are desert and that agricultural land does not exceed 8% of the total land area.”

He explained that “even the Kufra project (southeastern Libya), which included large and small farms, was aimed at providing Libya's full needs of red meat, especially sheep. The project of raising 200,000 sheep was impractical due to the difficulty of supplying what the farm produces to the northern regions because of the long distance between them with poor transportation.”

He stressed that “there were several projects similar to the Kufra project, but mismanagement in Libya thwarted it and caused a food security crisis in the country.”

The economics professor pointed out that “births in different regions, especially the south, suffer from a lack of vaccinations, which makes them able to achieve a good nutritional representation and avoid food deficiency diseases.”

“Many children attend clinics with the first signs of malnutrition, including general weakness and lack of weight and height,” Al-Fitouri said.

“In the face of these difficulties, Libya will enter a phase of famine, which will have no mercy, whether young or old,” he stressed.