FAO launches $2.5bn global appeal to support 100m people across 54 countries in 2026

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has issued its first Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal seeking $2.5 billion to support 100 million people across 54 countries in 2026.

It marks the agency’s largest and most comprehensive humanitarian and resilience funding request to date.

The Appeal consolidates all emergency and resilience needs into a single framework aimed at reducing rising levels of acute food insecurity while cutting future humanitarian costs.

It places agriculture at the centre of crisis response through seed distribution, livestock vaccination, cash assistance, infrastructure rehabilitation and anticipatory action.

FAO said West and Central Africa will receive the highest regional allocation of $593.4 million to assist 17.7 million people across countries including Nigeria, which is expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries because of its population and scale of food insecurity.

Qu Dongyu, director general of the agency who launched the Appeal during the FAO Council meeting in Rome, said global acute food insecurity has tripled since 2016 despite high humanitarian spending, adding that supporting farmers to maintain food production remains the most cost effective pathway to stability.

The Appeal seeks $1.5 billion for life saving agricultural interventions for 60 million people, $1 billion for resilience programmes targeting 43 million people, and 70 million dollars for global services such as food system monitoring and anticipatory action.

FAO noted that 80 percent of those facing acute food insecurity live in rural areas, yet only 5 percent of humanitarian food sector funding currently goes to agricultural livelihoods. Evidence from the agency shows that early agricultural action can generate benefit cost ratios of up to 7 to 1, reducing future humanitarian needs and losses.

The regional allocations include
$521.6 million for Asia and the Pacific;
$519.1 million for the Near East and North Africa;
$471.6 million for Eastern Africa;
$179.6 million for Southern Africa;
$111.9 million for Latin America and the Caribbean;
$64.7 million for Ukraine.

FAO is urging governments, donors and partners to increase investment in agricultural solutions that improve food availability, restore rural livelihoods and build long term resilience in crisis affected countries.

Ruth Tene Natsa

Ruth Tene, Assistant Editor, Agric/Solid Minerals/INEC

Ruth Tene is an award-winning journalist with over 15 years experience in developmental reporting across several newsrooms, as a reporter, editor and other managerial roles. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from the University of Maiduguri among several other certifications

She has attended several trainings and certifications both locally and internationally and has been recognized for her impactful work in humanitarian reporting, receiving the Gold Award for Humanitarian Services from the Amazing Grace Foundation. She is also a recipient of the Home Alliance Fellowship, reflecting her commitment to fostering a more humane, safer and more sustainable planet.

An active member of professional journalism bodies, Ruth is affiliated with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), and the Agricultural Correspondents Association of Nigeria (ACAN), where she continues to advocate for excellence, ethical reporting, and development-focused journalism.