The humanitarian agency, Catholic Relief Services, says it is concerned about “deep hunger” in Ayod, Fangak State.

The Country Representative, Jerry Farrel, says the hunger is due to a poor harvest last year.

Mr. Farrel says the people may scatter in search of food and this will make it difficult to provide assistance by air in the coming weeks.

“A concern in Ayod these days is the deep hunger because there was no harvest last year. But also it appears that people have scattered and if they are scattered, there is almost no way to distribute food to them,” he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday morning.

He told Eye Radio that conflict around the area makes it difficult to deliver assistance.

“We don’t know if it is safe enough for our staff to go there and we don’t know if it is possible our staff to work on the ground – we have about 40 staff members,” Mr. Farrel added.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification update released last month by the government and UN agencies, 4.9 million people are in need of assistance in South Sudan.

The UN said that the total number of food insecure people is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.

Last month, the agencies said 100,000 people are facing starvation in the former Unity, where famine has been declared.