. Seek urgent actions to check worsening food security crisis
By Clara Nwachukwu
International lenders and donor agencies have expressed concerns that only about 7% of the over $710 billion spent for social protection measures covering one billion people in the world, went to low-income countries.
The group said the sum was spent by countries in response to the inflation of food, fuel and fertiliser prices.
This was contained in a joint statement yesterday by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank Group (WBG); World Food Programme (WFP); and the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling for continued urgent action to address the global crisis on food and nutrition security.
“In response to the inflation of food, fuel and fertilizer prices, countries have spent over $710 billion for social protection measures covering one billion people, including approximately $380 billion for subsidies.
“However, only $4.3 billion has been spent in low-income countries for social protection measures, compared to $507.6 billion in high-income countries.
The statement was signed by the Director-General, FAO, Qu Dongyu; Managing Director, IMF, Kristalina Georgieva; President, WBG, David Malpass; Executive Director, WFP, David Beasley; and Director-General, WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
However, only $4.3 billion has been spent in low-income countries for social protection measures, compared to $507.6 billion in high-income countries.
Poverty, food insecurity
Despite the huge spend, the organisations are worried that globally, poverty and food insecurity are both on the rise after decades of development gains.
The statement continued: “Supply chain disruptions, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, financial tightening through rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine have caused an unprecedented shock to the global food system, with the most vulnerable hit the hardest.
“Food inflation remains high in the world, with dozens of countries experiencing double digit inflation.”
Specifically, WFP said about 349 million people across 79 countries are acutely food insecure, while the prevalence of undernourishment is on the rise, and will get worse following three years of deterioration.
“The need is especially dire in 24 countries that FAO and WFP have identified as hunger hotspots, of which 16 are in Africa,” it added.
The group therefore called on governments and donors to take three actions to prevent a worsening of the food and nutrition security crisis.
These include: rescue hunger hotspots; facilitate trade, improve the functioning of markets, and enhance the role of the private sector; and reform and repurpose harmful subsidies with careful targeting and efficiency.
They added that these actions will involve supporting country-level efforts to address the needs in hotspots, share information and strengthen crisis preparedness.
Others are minimizing trade distortions, strengthening the provision of public goods, and enabling the private sector to contribute meaningfully to improved food security outcomes.
Finally, countries and donors should reform universal subsidies for efficiency, cost and fiscal sustainability, flexibility, and remove administrative complexity, create equity, and strengthen resilience and sustainability.
