FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO published the SOFI report ( State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World ) which highlights, as expected, the worsening of the global malnutrition crisis (1,2,3).
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2.1 and 2.2 – ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 – are receding, in an increasingly insecure planet in every way.
The ‘food security’ crisis, still increasing in Africa, is combined with that of obesity which is worsening on all continents. And we need an objective evaluation of funding for food and nutritional security.
1) Hunger and malnutrition in the world, the estimates
The estimates – elaborated on the basis of scant data and interviews in 59 countries – indicate the prevalence of food insecurity in 2023 in the following terms:
- at least 713-757 million people (152 million more than in 2019) of the global population lived in conditions of severe food insecurity. That is, at least 9,1% of humans, 20,4% in Africa, suffered from hunger in 2023
- 2,33 billion people (65 million more than 2019), equal to 28,9% of the total, with double prevalence in Africa (58%), lived in conditions of moderate or severe food insecurity
- 2,8 billion people, more than a third of humans, lacked access to nutritious foods (see paragraph 3 below).
1.1) Current emergencies
‘100% of the population of the Gaza Strip [2,2 million] face high levels of food insecurity, as do more than half of the population of South Sudan [20 million hungry], of Yemen[7,8 million] and of Syrian Arab Republic[13 million] and almost half the population of Haiti [18 million]’ (SOFI 2024 Report, chapter 2, box 2). (1)
2) Inequalities between countries
Inequalities between the different countries are macroscopic and can partly explain how the economic factor, in addition to escapes from wars, contribute to migratory flows:
– 71,5% of inhabitants in low-income countries, 52,6% in low-middle income countries, cannot afford a healthy diet
– this situation, on the other hand, affects 21,5% of residents in medium-high income countries, 6,3% in high income countries. (4)
3) Malnutrition, between hunger and obesity
‘A healthy diet is achieved by consuming a variety of foods they provide
– adequate nutrients and
– bioactive compounds important for health,
– a balanced intake of macronutrients and
– moderation of foods and drinks that increase the risk of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including those that are high in unhealthy fats, free sugars and/or salt and/or that contain non-sugar sweeteners and that are often highly processed’. (1)
Obesity of adults continues to grow in all countries, just as the absolute numbers of people who cannot afford a healthy diet and women suffering from anemia are increasing. Hunger and obesity thus combine to express the double burden of malnutrition’.
It is therefore necessary to adopt policies – including fiscal ones (5) – programs capable of addressing at the same time double duty actions that address malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity, leveraging factors common to all forms of malnutrition’.
4) Gender gap
The gender gap in food insecurity, moderate or severe, went from a difference of 1,4% between men and women in 2019 to 3,6% in 2021.
The gender gap has also increased in the prevalence of severe food insecurity, rising from a 0,6% difference between men and women to 2,3% over the same period.
5) Causes
The main factors underlying the global malnutrition crisis are divided into:
– external factors to agri-food systems. Wars and humanitarian crises first and foremost, but also extreme climate events as well as high and persistent social inequalities. Food inflation continues to restrict people’s access to food in many countries
– critical issues intrinsic to food systems. Low productivity and inadequate supply of nutritious foods (fruits and vegetables (in primis) ) are accompanied by the excessive supply of low-cost HFSS (High in Fats, Sugar and Sodium) ultra-processed foods.
6) Needs
‘ We need to accelerate the transformation of our food systems to strengthen their resilience to key production factors and address inequalities to ensure a healthy diet is accessible and available to all.’ (6)
‘Failure to improve food security and uneven progress in affordable access to healthy diets cast a shadow on the possibility of achieving Zero Hunger in the world [#SDG2], six years before the 2030 deadline.
By the end of the decade, 582 million people are projected to be chronically undernourished, more than half of them in Africa’ (SOFI 2024 Report, chapter 2). (1)
7) Financing
Funding for food security and nutrition through national public spending, official development assistance and other official flows are traceable, unlike most private financing flows (see paragraph 7.2).
Agriculture still receives a very low share of public spending per capita, with serious shortfalls in low-income countries (LICs) and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). And it is only a fraction of public spending on food security and nutrition.
7.1) Definitions and mapping
The wide variety of definitions of funding for food security and nutrition security, on the other hand, causes problems in identifying underfunded areas, ensuring accountability and tracking the impact of interventions.
‘A common definition is urgently needed as well as the mapping of funding for food security and nutrition, as current efforts lack adequate focus and clarity ‘.
Public and private financial resources aimed at ensuring the availability, access, use and stability of nutritious and safe foods include:
– ‘ practices that promote healthy eating, as well as health, education and social protection services that make them possible ‘, and
– ‘financial resources aimed at strengthening the resilience of agri-food systems with respect to the main drivers and structural factors underlying hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition’ (SOFI Report, chapter 4).
7.2) Public and private aid
‘Food security’ and ‘nutrition security’ absorb less than a quarter of total official development assistance and other official, national and international flows.
Paradoxically, between 2017 to 2021, public aid appears to have even been exceeded by private aid:
- 76 billion dollars a year in public funding, only 34% of which contributed to addressing the main factors of food insecurity and malnutrition. These flows have grown especially for Africa (in all regions) and for low-middle income countries (in all income groups);
- 95 billion dollars per year the combined total of private financing coming from philanthropy (USD 4 million), cross-border remittances from migrants invested in agri-food systems (USD 29 million) and foreign direct investments (USD 62 million); (7)
- mixed funding (i.e. co-financed research and cooperation projects) on the other hand expresses modest amounts. AND ‘ net bank lending to agriculture, forestry and fishing shows an almost continuous decline’.
8) Recommendations
United Nations agencies that participated in the drafting of the SOFI 2024 report do not address the crucial topic which in fact goes beyond their respective mandates, ‘food not bombs’. Current and potential wars as well as the arms race, which have accelerated in recent years in different quadrants of the planet, are taking away enormous resources that are essential to the survival and well-being of populations.
Several trillion dollars of investments are instead necessary to make the necessary progress towards SDG Goals 2.1 and 2.2. ‘ Otherwise the social, economic and environmental consequences will require solutions that will also cost several trillion dollars.’ (…) Innovative, inclusive and equitable solutions are needed to increase funding for food security and nutrition in countries with high levels of hunger and malnutrition’.
8.1) Financial flows
The recommendations on how to increase funding for food and nutrition security vary in relation to the ability of the various countries to access financial flows:
– in countries with limited or moderate capacity, grants and preferential loans are the most suitable options, while countries with moderate capacity can increase internal tax revenues by linking taxation to food security and nutritional outcomes (e.g. sugar tax, junk -food tax. WHO, 2024); (5)
– ‘ promoting collaborative financing partnerships according to a blended finance approach is essential, as the level of financial risk can make other sources of financing too expensive’;
– ‘The countries that have high capacity to access finance can incorporate food security and nutrition objectives into instruments such as green, social, sustainable and sustainability-related bonds’.
8.2) Governance
‘ The current financing architecture for food security and nutrition is very fragmented and requires (…) greater coordination between actors (public and private) on what is essential in consideration of national and local political priorities. To this end, transparency and harmonization of data collection are key ‘.
‘Donors and other international actors must increase their risk tolerance and participate more in de-risking activities, while governments must fill gaps unaddressed by private commercial actors by investing in public goods, reducing corruption and tax evasion, increasing security spending food and nutrition and evaluating the possibility of reallocating political support’.
9) Comments
‘ Hunger levels remain high, higher than in 2015, when we launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As high as in 2009, in terms of global population prevalence, when we were dealing with the consequences of the Great Recession caused by the subprime crisis’.
The director of the Agri-Food Economics Division at FAO David Laborde, in an interview with The New Humanitarian, remarks that ‘we need to strengthen treatment, not only on the symptoms but also on the root causes’. (8)
Rich countries should do much more, comment in turn international aid agencies such as Oxfam and Action Against Hunger. Support the development and resilience of local food systems, deliver on promises to increase official development assistance, and free poor nations from burdensome debt burdens. ‘There is simply a lack of political will to allocate sufficient political attention and financial resources to address hunger’, says Oxfam International food policy manager Hanna Saarinen. (8)
10) Food not bombs
‘The developed countries have not fulfilled their commitment to dedicate 0,7% of gross national income to official development assistance, nor their long-standing commitment to provide $100 billion in climate finance’, emphasizes Hanna Saarinen of Oxfam.
The same countries on the other hand pursue objectives of substantial increase in public spending on weapons and armies. Up to 2% of the gross domestic product in the European Union, under the diktat of the Atlantic military alliance, with very high social costs. Until?
#Égalité, #PaceTerraDignità
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 – Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. Rome, 2024. ISBN 978-92-5-138882-2. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en
(2) Dario Dongo. State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023. Report FAO et al . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. FAO, SOFI report 2023. The hidden costs of agri-food systems . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) Sabrina Bergamini, Dario Dongo. When food is a luxury. Social and material deprivation in the EU and Italy . Egalité. 30.7.24
(5) Dario Dongo. Fiscal policies for balanced nutrition, WHO recommendations . GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(6) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. CFS, FAO approves the ‘Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition’. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 8.10.23
(7) The actual impact of foreign investments on the food and nutritional security of populations remains uncertain, in the writer’s opinion, precisely while awaiting a univocal definition of ‘funding’ for this purpose
(8) Thin Lei Win. Climate, conflict, and debt keep hunger and malnutrition stubbornly high globally. The New Humanitarian. 24.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/bde5umt7
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
