By INSIDER REPORTERS

ROME -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) last year predicted that 2012 would bring a storm of hunger to South Sudan. The UN agency predicted at the end of 2011 that more than 2.5 million people would be in need of food assistance this year. A new report issued jointly with the Food and Agricultural Organisation has said this number could rise to 3.3 million and called for urgent action to avoid a hunger crisis.

The report states that food insecurity in the fledging state has “risen sharply” from 3.3 million in 2011 to 4.7 million in 2012. Of those, the report estimates that 1 million are “severely food insecure,” but said that this figure could double if conflict continues to cause major displacements and food prices keep rising.

"This is a rapidly approaching crisis that the world cannot afford to ignore," said Chris Nikoi, WFP's country director in South Sudan. "The situation is dire, and we are doing everything we can to be ready, but we are running out of time."

The WFP report last year said it would need US$92 million to finance just the first four months of its 2012 operations to meet the South Sudan’s urgent hunger needs. This new report asks for US$160 million for WFP action, and the FAO FAO stated that it is seeking “$US 23 million in donor support through the UN Consolidated Appeal Process.”

 However, some may take these figures with a pinch of salt, as FAO projections have in the past come under fire for inaccurate data collection methods in its global hunger estimates. The headline grabbing statistic of '1 billion hungry' predicted in 2009 seems likely to have been over-estimated as the Agency now collects the actual data from that period. A UN statistics symposium was held in January to address growing concerns about FAO estimates, and the Organisation is currently undergoing a review of its global hunger estimates.