Edited by Flaminia Marchetti, Policy Analyst
Predictions for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022
On July 6th 2022, FAO will host an event to publish its latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report (SOFI), a yearly event held in New York for the launch of a joint report created under the collaboration of a number of UN agencies. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World informs on progress towards SDGs, with a particular focus on world hunger and food security. Moreover, it offers data on the main challenges countries face in their regards. According to the disclosed information, this year's edition will focus on repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable.
Since its first publication, the report has gained relevance as a global report and source of crucial information for policy makers to shape their actions against food insecurity and malnutrition.
Last but not least, its role has become more and more important as it is the result of a joint effort of critical agencies: namely FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO.
The current state of the arts
Last year’s report highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, that since 2020 has exacerbated existing inequalities and created new ones. The report also pointed out that the consequences of the Pandemic would be far from short-lived, affecting the costs of living and therefore diets of millions.
To understand the reported analysis, experts have drawn information from the past four editions, and have centered their attention on the major drivers of change in food security and nutrition - conflicts, environment and climate change, economic slowdowns and downturns - that ultimately, fuel and intensify poverty and its causes.
The 2021 concluded that poverty was among the root causes of food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition because people cannot afford a healthy diet, or any diet at all. Altogether, the focal point of the report is the need for better consideration of the issue of food security and nutrition.
The impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
The persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic recessions, higher levels of unemployment and lower incomes, and prevented the progress to the end of global hunger. In addition, the Russia-Ukraine conflict that erupted in February is already affecting global grain, fertilizer, and energy prices, feeding inflation and leading to a further increase in food prices that had also been impacted by bottlenecks in supply chains and soaring transport costs.
In such a context, public spending and investments become critical to produce goal-oriented policies. According to the SOFI report, governments must wield public policy in order to create an environment more conducive to private investment, more risk-averse, to promote diets and cost-effective decisions.
To conclude, many countries can repurpose their food and agricultural policies towards these objectives, while ensuring that complementing policies in other sectors are there to create incentives that are coherent to this end.