The World Food Program (WFP) expects the food insecurity crisis in Houthi-controlled areas of northern Yemen to worsen in the coming months as a result of sanctions linked to Washington’s designation of the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Operational challenges limited WFP's ability to reach around 1.5 million people only in 32 districts by mid-March,” the agency said in its Yemen Food Security Update for March.
WFP said the inclusion of the Houthi militias on the US list of terrorist organizations impedes humanitarian work, limits the flow of essential commodities into Yemen, risks escalating the conflict and raises serious concerns about fuel availability and prices in Houthi-controlled areas.
According to the report, the prevalence of inadequate food consumption remains at alarming levels in Yemen, reaching 62% nationwide in February 2025.
This includes 66% in areas under the internationally-recognized government of Yemen (IRG) and 61% in areas under the control of the Houthis, with year-on-year increases of 15% and 20%, respectively.
Also, severe levels of food deprivation (poor food consumption) also rose from 25% in February 2024 to 36% in February 2025, with a higher proportion recorded in IRG areas (38%) compared to 35% in SBA areas.
All governorates in Yemen exceeded the “very high” threshold of 20% for poor food consumption, except for Sanaa City. The peaks were recorded in Al Bayda, Ad Dali', and Shabwah governorates, the UN agency said.
In IRG-controlled areas, WFP said it is currently assisting approximately three million people per each distribution cycle.
This includes 2.2 million with general food assistance (GFD), and 787,500 with cash-based transfers (CBT).
While food assistance has provided some relief to vulnerable households in the targeted districts of IRG areas, the persistent economic challenges continue to largely offset these gains, coupled with ongoing lean season effects, the WFP report noted.
It said that in Houthi areas, the second Targeted Emergency Food Assistance (TEFA) cycle of 2025 started in mid-February, targeting 2.8 million people in 70 districts.
However, due to operational challenges, WFP had only reached around 1.5 million people in 32 districts by mid-March.
Also, the report said the Yemeni riyal in IRG-controlled areas hit another record low against the US dollar in February 2025, depreciating by 26% year-on-year.
This currency depreciation has primarily driven local fuel and food prices to unprecedented levels in February 2025, further eroding households purchasing power, it noted.
WFP said that fuel imports in the first two months of 2025 saw a 14 drop via the Red Sea ports compared to the same time last year, while Aden and Mukalla ports experienced a 35% decline year-on-year.
It therefore warned that the fuel import ban through the Houthi-controlled ports, set to take effect in April 2025 due to the FTO designation, raises serious concerns about fuel availability and prices in areas falling under militia control.
