UN food agency to cut Syria aid by about half amid funding crisis

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday said that it is forced to slash aid to Syria by about half, due to an “unprecedented funding crisis,” cutting around 2.5 million people out of the food programme.

“An unprecedented funding crisis in Syria is forcing the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to cut assistance to 2.5 million of the 5.5 million people who rely on the agency for their basic food needs,” the WFP said in a statement. 

The food agency said it was forced to make the decision in order to use its “extremely limited resources” to those who require the food assistance the most in the country by “prioritizing 3 million Syrians who are unable to make it from one week to the next without food assistance.”

The WFP said there are currently 5.5 million people in Syria who depend on them for their basic food needs, warning that it runs the risk of running “out of food completely by October” if they do not make the cuts. 

“Instead of scaling up or even keeping pace with increasing needs, we’re facing the bleak scenario of taking assistance away from people, right when they need it the most,” said WFP representative in Syria Kenn Crossley said in the statement. 

The decision comes as the European Union is set to host the seventh conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the Region” on Wednesday. The UN Agency says it urgently requires $180 million to avert the cuts and continue the assistance “at its current rate” until the end of the year.

The WFP said that it has “exhausted all the other options” to stretch the available resources to maintain the assistance, including a gradual reduction of the size of the monthly food ration.

"Further reductions in ration size are impossible. Our only solution is to reduce the number of recipients,” Crossley added.

Syria’s 12-year war broke out after a crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad’s on anti-government protests, pulling foreign powers into the scuffle in the country, and causing a dire humanitarian crisis.

More than half of the country’s pre-war population was killed while millions were displaced. The coronavirus pandemic, worsening economic crisis, a devastating earthquake in February, and the redirection of international aid to the war in Ukraine further exacerbated the situation. 

“Currently, an average monthly income covers only around one-quarter of a family’s food needs. Even those receiving regular food assistance from WFP were already struggling to cope,” WFP said.