The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent appeal for donations to avert what it describes as a looming “full-blown disaster” in Myanmar’s war-torn Rakhine State, where severe food shortages are pushing families to desperate measures.
Already home to around 140,000 Rohingya Muslims displaced by communal violence in 2012, Rakhine has seen humanitarian needs surge amid the civil war sparked by Myanmar’s 2021 military coup. The situation has worsened dramatically since the military imposed a blockade in 2023 to cut off supplies to the insurgent Arakan Army, which now controls most of the state.
Food scarcity is now acute. In April, a father in the Ohn Taw Kyi camp reportedly poisoned his family’s meal in despair over starvation, killing himself but sparing his wife and children thanks to neighbours’ intervention. Similar tragedies have been reported, including suicides linked to hunger in recent months.
The WFP warns it can only feed 20% of the people in Myanmar facing severe food insecurity, after a 60% drop in global funding this year compared to 2024. Cuts to aid in Rakhine earlier this year coincided with a sharp increase in the number of families unable to meet basic needs.
“People are trapped in a vicious cycle – cut off by conflict, stripped of livelihoods, and left with no humanitarian safety net,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Myanmar representative. Reports describe children crying from hunger, mothers skipping meals, and families surviving on boiled taro roots.
The military’s ban on Rohingya fishing, combined with collapsing trade routes and the conscription of men to fight, has deepened the crisis. Many families now use their WFP allowances to pay debts or military levies, leaving little for food.
The WFP has cited “alarming signs” of distress, including rising debt, begging, school dropouts, domestic violence, and human trafficking. While the agency refrained from naming countries, a drastic 87% cut in USAID funding under the Trump administration reducing US contributions from nearly $4.5 billion last year has severely hampered global relief efforts.
With Rakhine’s population besieged by conflict, isolation, and hunger, aid agencies warn that without urgent international support, starvation could claim countless lives in the months ahead.
