Some 5.83 million people — 52% of Haiti’s population — are currently experiencing acute food insecurity, with more than 1.8 million in emergency conditions requiring immediate humanitarian assistance, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification update released by Haiti’s National Food Security Coordination (CNSA). The figure marks an increase of 130,000 people compared to September 2025, confirming that the situation continues to deteriorate. While joint efforts by the government, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Food Program (WFP) helped around 200,000 people move out of the most critical phase over the past year, that progress is fragile and at risk of reversal.
Three overlapping crises are driving the hunger: armed violence, economic shocks, and climate disasters. Gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people, disrupted food supply chains, blocked farmers from reaching their land, and driven up prices for basic goods. Rising fuel costs linked to the Middle East conflict are pushing up transport and agricultural production expenses, eroding what little purchasing power Haitian families have left. Then Hurricane Melissa struck the country’s southern regions in October 2025, destroying crops and livestock and dealing another blow to rural livelihoods and national food production.
FAO Representative Pierre Vauthier said ending Haiti’s humanitarian crisis is impossible without strengthening local agriculture, calling it “both an immediate response and a pathway to long-term transformation.” WFP Country Director Wanja Kaaria was equally direct: “Peace cannot be built if families are unable to feed their children.” Both organizations stress that emergency food assistance and agricultural support must work in tandem — one stabilizes families now, the other builds the conditions for Haiti to reduce its dependence on external aid over time.
The CNSA, FAO, and WFP are jointly calling on national and international stakeholders to urgently scale up investments in food security, fund emergency agricultural interventions, improve humanitarian access, and strengthen support for smallholder farmers. Without immediate and sustained action, millions more risk sliding into acute hunger. CNSA Coordinator Harmel Cazeau offered cautious optimism about new governance mechanisms being put in place, but the message from all partners is unambiguous: the window for preventing further deterioration is narrow, and it is closing.
