The guidance instructs staff to halt new financial commitments and suspend activities funded by the U.S. government. As a result, FAO field offices have already begun cutting contracts, freezing recruitment and delaying key agricultural and food security programs, according to people familiar with the situation.
The cuts — part of a broader freeze on aid administered through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department — mirror moves already hitting other U.N. agencies like the World Food Programme, which has seen office closures and drastic ration reductions worldwide.
“This isn’t just an FAO problem — every single humanitarian agency is affected in some way,” said one field worker. “It’s catastrophic. The U.S. is one of the biggest donors, contributing tens of billions annually. If that money disappears overnight, there’s not a single aid group that won’t feel it. In places like Afghanistan and Sudan, there’s simply no one else delivering aid at this scale. That means millions could fall back into crisis-level hunger.”
Silent crisis
The Rome-based agency, which oversees global food security and agriculture, received $307 million from the U.S. last year — around 14 percent of its budget, according to figures shared with POLITICO. Much of the funding supports emergency and resilience programs in places such as Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia, where millions face acute food insecurity due to war, climate disasters and economic instability.
While the cuts at the WFP, which could result in billions of dollars in lost funding, have made headlines — including the closure of its southern Africa office in Johannesburg and halving of rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh — the FAO’s challenges have played out more quietly.
The two agencies often act together — the FAO provides technical assistance, policy support and promotes agricultural practices to help farmers grow food, whereas the WFP distributes food in times of crisis. While the WFP’s high-profile emergency work draws public attention, the FAO’s behind-the-scenes role in policy and agricultural support tends to keep it out of the spotlight.