The IDPs crisis in the north continues to be the main emergency in Mozambique. For 2023, the priority is to provide urgent life-saving assistance to those who have borne the brunt of the conflict. In addition, FSC partners will provide life-sustaining support for people whose livelihoods have been compromised by the conflict. People in need includes 976,000 people displaced by the conflict, some 400,000 non-displaced people in host communities and 170,000 people who have returned to their home districts in the course of the year. More than half of them are children and more than 60 percent of adults are women. The Food Security Cluster intend to increase considerably the numbers of IDPs and host communities’ benefiting from livelihood interventions, while keeping a high coverage of life-saving humanitarian food assistance. For the food assistance component, same as in 2022, it is expected that the assistance will be reduced from April onwards, as the harvest season starts and more food is available at the communities. For 2023, the FSC plans to target 1,108,955 acutely food insecure people out of an overall 1,435,000 People in Need (PIN) in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa in northern Mozambique.

Referred to the southern part of the country, and according to FEWSNET, localized dry spells during the planting season will likely negatively impact the harvest 2023. Also, heavy rains hit the southern region of Mozambique in the second week of February 2023, causing floodings and structural damages, particularly in Maputo province. Up to 50,000 people would be affected, including approx 15,000 people displaced. River basins of Maputo, Goba, Magude, Megaruma, Mutarara, and Congerenge are above the threshold levels, so concerns persist about the widespread flooding. All these occurring in areas where high levels of food insecurity had already been projected. The FSC continue to monitor and coordinate with our humanitarian partners in the field the response in the central and southern regions of the country.