The state of food security and nutrition in the world

In 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its global partners released a report titled ‘The state of food security and nutrition in the world’.

- Dr Tinashe Kapuya

The report coincided with the release of the African Union’s third edition of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Biennial Review (BR) report (2019–2021).

The reports came against the backdrop of a growing recognition that achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture) is increasingly becoming an intractable target.

To understand why this is the case, we need to reflect on the scale of the current challenge, the ever- rising cost of a healthy diet, why prevailing efforts are proving insufficient to address the problem, and what the continent may need to do to begin to transform food systems in order to overcome hunger.

Worldwide, between 702 million and 828 million people went to bed hungry in 2021, which was about 46 million more than 2020, and a total increase of 150 million since 2019.

Africa accounts for a considerable part of this growth, having the highest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity. About 50 million more Africans were affected by hunger in 2021 than in 2019, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

ONE IN FIVE FACE HUNGER