06 February 2015, Juba--- The food crisis has escalated in South Sudan. A staggering 2.5 million people – about one-fifth of the population – remain in either Crisis or Emergency level food insecurity as fighting continues in the country. According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report released this week, this is more than double the number of people who were experiencing this level of food insecurity in December 2013, when the current conflict broke out. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization is warning that the situation is deteriorating and there is an urgent need to expand resilience efforts.