Africa-Press – Ghana. The World Bank has announced that it has scaled up its food and nutrition security response.
In May 2022, the World Bank made a commitment of making available $30 billion over a period of 15 months to tackle the crisis. But the Bank said they have surpassed that goal.
It announced that it has scaled up its food and nutrition security response, to now making $45 billion available through a combination of $22 billion in new lending and $23 billion from existing portfolio.
“Our food and nutrition security portfolio now spans across 90 countries. It includes both short term interventions such as expanding social protection, also longer-term resilience such as boosting productivity and climate-smart agriculture.
“The Bank’s intervention is expected to benefit 335 million people, equivalent to 44% of the number of undernourished people. Around 53% of the beneficiaries are women – they are disproportionately more affected by the crisis,” the World Bank said in its latest update to its responses to rising Food Insecurity, published on April 29.
Below is the full report…
Domestic food price inflation remains high. Inflation higher than 5% is experienced 57.1% of low-income countries (no change since the last update on April 11, 2024), 63.8% of lower-middle-income countries (no change), 33% of upper-middle-income countries (3.0 percentage points lower), and 12.7% of high-income countries (9.1 percentage points lower). In real terms, food price inflation exceeded overall inflation in 48.8% of 166 countries where data is available.
Compared to two weeks ago, the agriculture and cereal price indices closed 1% higher, respectively, and the export price index closed 3% higher. Among cereals, maize and wheat prices closed 2% higher, respectively, while rice closed 1% lower. On a year-on-year basis, maize prices are 34% lower and wheat prices are 17% lower. Rice prices on the other hand are 24% higher. Compared to January 2020, maize prices are 15% higher, wheat prices are 3% higher, and rice prices are 47% higher.
According to the USDA Economic Research Service, global wheat ending stocks for the 2023/24 period are anticipated to hit an eight-year low, dropping 0.6 million metric tons (MMT) to 258.3 million metric tons (MMT). This decline is primarily attributed to India’s diminished wheat stocks, forecasted to decrease by 2.1 MMT to 6.9 MMT due to faster consumption rates than previously estimated. India’s ending stocks will have plummeted by over 20 MMT from their peak in 2020/21, reflecting a substantial reduction. Overall, global stocks have seen a decline of 39 MMT from their peak in 2019/20, with China contributing 18 MMT to this decrease.
According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2023 – a worldwide increase of 24 million from the previous year. This rise was due to the report’s increased coverage of food crisis contexts as well as a sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and the Sudan. For four consecutive years, the proportion of people facing acute food insecurity has remained persistently high at almost 22 percent of those assessed, significantly exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels. The Global Network Against Food Crises urgently calls for a transformative approach that integrates peace, prevention, and development action alongside at-scale emergency efforts to break the cycle of acute hunger which remains at unacceptably high levels.
According to new research published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), international fertilizer prices have fallen by 50% from their peak in April 2022. Factors such as an increase in demand in the post-COVID economic recovery, disruptions to the global supply chain, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused global fertilizer prices to increase significantly from 2021 to 2022. These events raised concerns that fertilizer application would be reduced, which could decrease production and increase food insecurity, but price shocks appear to have had a limited impact on fertilizer use.
As highlighted in a recent IFPRI blog, parts of Southern Africa have been reeling under the grip of a severe drought since late 2023, exacerbated by the ongoing El Niño Southern Oscillation. This has resulted in plummeting harvests; prompted disaster declarations in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; and affected countries across the region. Dwindling maize yields pose a grave threat to food security for millions of households reliant on this staple for a significant portion of their daily calorie intake.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trade-related policies imposed by countries have surged. The global food crisis has been partially made worse by the growing number of food and fertilizer trade restrictions put in place by countries with a goal of increasing domestic supply and reducing prices. As of April 22, 2024, 16 countries have implemented 22 food export bans, and 8 have implemented 15 export-limiting measures.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, trade-related policies imposed by countries have surged. The global food crisis has been partially made worse by the growing number of food and fertilizer trade restrictions put in place by countries with a goal of increasing domestic supply and reducing prices. As of April 22, 2024, 16 countries have implemented 22 food export bans, and 8 have implemented 15 export-limiting measures.
In May 2022, the World Bank made a commitment of making available $30 billion over a period of 15 months to tackle the crisis. We have surpassed that goal. The World Bank has scaled up its food and nutrition security response, to now making $45 billion available through a combination of $22 billion in new lending and $23 billion from existing portfolio.
Our food and nutrition security portfolio now spans across 90 countries. It includes both short term interventions such as expanding social protection, also longer-term resilience such as boosting productivity and climate-smart agriculture.
The Bank’s intervention is expected to benefit 335 million people, equivalent to 44% of the number of undernourished people. Around 53% of the beneficiaries are women – they are disproportionately more affected by the crisis. Some examples include:
In May 2022, the World Bank Group and the G7 Presidency co-convened the Global Alliance for Food Security, which aims to catalyze an immediate and concerted response to the unfolding global hunger crisis. The Alliance has developed the publicly accessible Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard, which provides timely information for global and local decision-makers to help improve coordination of the policy and financial response to the food crisis.
The heads of the FAO, IMF, World Bank Group, WFP, and WTO released a Third Joint Statement on February 8, 2023. The statement calls to prevent a worsening of the food and nutrition security crisis, further urgent actions are required to (i) rescue hunger hotspots, (ii) facilitate trade, improve the functioning of markets, and enhance the role of the private sector, and (iii) reform and repurpose harmful subsidies with careful targeting and efficiency. Countries should balance short-term urgent interventions with longer-term resilience efforts as they respond to the crisis.
Source: 3News
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