The risk of famine in South Sudan is increasingly real due to continued fighting and a protracted economic crisis, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report earlier this week.

Nearly 3.7 million people in the country are severely food insecure, which represents nearly 31 percent of South Sudan.

"We are seeing an unprecedented number of food insecure people at harvest time and many more people at risk of starvation in the months to come as stocks run out. There is a need to act now to prevent a catastrophe,” said Serge Tissot, FAO Representative in South Sudan.

The end of the rainy season usually sees a reprieve for South Sudan's hunger situation, as it coincides with the country's harvest season. But the traditional breadbasket of South Sudan, the Equatorian region of the country, has seen intense fighting which has interrupted that harvest.

“In active conflict areas, an estimated 50 percent of all harvests have been lost and even more farmers were unable to plant for the second season due to insecurity. The displacement of people from those areas is also due to have profound effects on agricultural production,” FAO said in a report.