In the wake of a sweeping hunger, many people in Imatong state have turned to wild fruits for survival, according to officials.

The Governor of Imatong state Nartisio Loluke Manir has appealed for humanitarian assistance for the majority of people facing serious hunger in the state.

He warned that if no humanitarian intervention is made, the state is most likely to sink into a widespread emergency situation with totally depleted livelihood.

“The government of Imatong state pleads for humanitarian assistance to save lives and livelihoods of the population who are currently in crisis to emergency phase of food security,” he said.

Governor Loluke attributes the prevailing food insecurity in the region to a combination of factors like prolonged drought, the recent devaluation of the pound, fuel shortages that continues to hamper market operations.

He said isolated cases of insecurity caused by cattle raids and tribal fights in some counties which has seriously disrupted agriculture and displaced majority of households.

“Therefore, the state appeals to the humanitarian community to provide humanitarian assistance as soon as possible to be rolled out in all the areas with IPC phase 3 to 5,” said Mr. Loluke.

Governor Loluke said the people are now surviving on wild fruits, yams and coconuts and called for urgent life-saving intervention from the humanitarian community.

Food insecurity in the former Eastern Equatoria was first reported during the first quarter of 2015 and continued to intensify due to poor harvests.

Parts of South Sudan continue to experience widespread hunger.

According to Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) report 2015, the nutrition situation remains “very critical” particularly in Unity, Jonglei, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and parts of Eastern Equatoria states where the prevalence is above emergency thresholds of15%.

The Executive Director of Relief and Rehabilitation commission Peter Dut said during a talk show on eye radio’s Sundown program, that only 6% of the 1.3billion USD for the Humanitarian Reponse Plan – 2016 budget has been realized.

The 2016 South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) requested for $1.3 billion for 114 humanitarian partners to respond to the most life-threatening needs of 5.1 million people out of an estimated 6.1 million in need of protection and assistance across South Sudan.

The conflict in country has disrupted the livelihoods of millions of people and has had a negative impact on food security across the country.

Market disruptions due to the conflict, population displacement and a rise in prices of local food have all increased the level of food insecurity in the country.

WFP and its partners have been working for months to provide food assistance to people who are most in need.

Millions of people in conflict affected areas continue to struggle to provide food for them without a sustained humanitarian assistance.