A woman affected by drought offers her malnourished, weak cow water next to a camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Kismayo town. AFP
The estimate would amount to nearly a third of the population, according to data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC), a UN-backed group monitoring hunger and malnutrition.
Compared with earlier estimates, an extra half a million people faced "high levels of acute food insecurity" between April and June, "with a risk of famine in one location", read the updated report, which called for more humanitarian assistance.
A host of factors were driving the deterioration, including poor rainfall during the Gu rainy season from April to June -- Somalia's most important period for crops and livestock -- and rising food prices, exacerbated by the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The report also cited the decline in value of the Somali shilling, due to its rejection by traders and service providers in the south, displacement of people due to conflict and insecurity, and flood risks in river areas.
It also cited limited humanitarian assistance reaching only 12 per cent of the six million people in crisis or worse.
Some 4.1 million people were classified in the "crisis" phase of food insecurity and nearly 1.9 million people in the "emergency" phase -- one step away from the "catastrophic" level, equal to famine.
The analysis found that Somalia's Burhakaba District, in the country's south, was at risk of famine in a "plausible worst-case scenario of failing Gu rains, soaring food prices and below expected delivery of humanitarian food security assistance".
The report found that some 42,000 additional children are expected to need treatment for acute malnutrition this year, making a total of nearly 1.9 million.
The UN's World Food Programme warned last week it would have to halt humanitarian assistance in Somalia by July if it did not receive new funding.
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