The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are expanding their operations in response to growing food insecurity as a result of poor harvests across much of southern Africa. There will be an estimated 27.4 million food-insecure people in the region during the next six months, according to the Southern African Development Community 2015 Vulnerability Assessments. WFP, FAO and other partners are meanwhile monitoring the El Niño weather phenomenon which could significantly impact southern Africa following a poor agricultural season in 2014/15. The intensity of the El Niño is increasing towards a peak expected in late 2015, and may become one of the strongest such events on record. The region faces the risk of another poor rainfall season and harvest resulting in a “significant increase in food and nutrition insecurity in the region,” according to the latest update from the Southern Africa Food and Nutrition Working Group. Food insecurity means that people struggle to buy or produce enough nutritious food to lead a healthy life.