Feature: Food insecurity plagues Yemen amid economic collapse, conflict

by Murad Abdo

ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- As the sun dipped behind the rooftops of Yemen's southern port city of Aden, residents crowded a narrow alley leading to a modest bakery supported by local donors. The line moved slowly. Some had stood there since late afternoon for the chance to buy just a few loaves.

Among them was Um Abdullah, a mother of four, standing patiently at the rear of the line as hope and uncertainty hung in the air. She mainly depends on charity bread to supplement her household's increasingly insufficient meals.

"I've been here for almost two hours," she said. "I came just a little later than usual, and by then the line was too long. I'm going home with nothing today, and I don't know what I will feed my children."

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi group seized several northern provinces, forcing the internationally recognized government out of the capital Sanaa. Over the past decade, the country's humanitarian crisis has steadily deepened as multiple pressures converge.

The conflict has damaged infrastructure, disrupted transport and markets, and limited access to health and nutrition services. Prolonged instability has also weakened state institutions and driven a sharp economic decline. As the local currency loses value and food prices climb, essential goods have become increasingly unaffordable for ordinary families. Together, these factors have deepened food insecurity nationwide, leaving millions struggling to meet their daily needs.

The worsening economic hardship is pushing many families to desperate measures. In public markets across Aden, a growing number of families are resorting to selling household goods to pay for food and medicine. In the Sheikh Othman district, Abu Marzouq, a government employee in his fifties, stood beside a small display of used kitchen items arranged neatly on the pavement.

"I haven't received my salary for more than three months," he said. "Even when I do receive it, it's not enough for food, medicine, or rent. That's why I'm selling these things. It's all I have left to help my family get through the month."

On a busy street in Aden, Maryam Mohammed, a mother of six, arranged homemade bread on a simple wooden table -- a small business born of necessity after her husband's income vanished.

"I opened this stall to cover my children's school expenses," she said. "But customers are fewer now. People are struggling, and some days I sit here from morning to evening without selling anything."

According to a Joint Monitoring Report issued last week by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the Assessment Capacities Project, Yemen is now the world's third most food-insecure country, with conditions expected to worsen in the coming months.

The report estimates that as of September, 61 percent of Yemeni households cannot meet minimum food needs, while 33 percent face severe food deprivation.

With food prices soaring, many Yemeni families are trimming their meals to survive.

Retired Yemeni soldier Saleh al-Najjar said his family's diet has shrunk to "nothing but bread and tea" as prices rise and wages go unpaid.

"Meat disappeared from our table long ago," he said. "These days we survive on bread and tea, two times a day, if we're lucky."

Shops that once bustled with customers now stand locked and silent as sales decline and expenses grow. "Every day another shop closes. With delayed salaries and little work available, everything is going in the wrong direction," said merchant Munther al-Harbi outside his small store in Aden's neighbourhood of Crater.

A World Bank report issued last week found that Yemen's economy remained under intense strain in the first half of 2025 amid a blockade on oil exports, rising inflation, and declining external assistance.

In government-held areas, the cost of a basic food basket had risen 26 percent by June, following a sharp depreciation of the Yemeni currency, which reached 2,905 rials per USD in July. Government revenues fell 30 percent, disrupting public services and delaying salaries, the report said.

In Houthi-controlled areas, airstrikes on airports and ports, liquidity shortages, and financial sector constraints have restricted imports and access to essential goods. Several banks have moved operations from Sanaa to Aden to avoid sanctions and regulatory hurdles. International aid, which millions rely on, has also continued to decline.

"The ongoing division within Yemen's institutions has left ordinary citizens paying the highest price," said Aden-based Yemeni economist Ramzi Sultan. He added that insecurity has stifled private-sector activity, and when government salaries stopped, many families lost the means to feed themselves. Hunger has become a constant companion.

Sultan warned that if the crisis continues without a real solution, suffering will deepen, paving the way for consequences far more devastating than what the country already endures. ■