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When Ellen Piwoz joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2007, the global nutrition field seemed to be struggling. The community “lacked a common narrative and agenda for action,” she said. It was also difficult to engage outsiders who did not understand the nutrition community’s techno-speak, and the field was also critically underfunded with a narrow donor base. 

The Ceres2030 project has shown the urgent need for additional investments—a yearly average of $14 billion from donors and $19 billion from low-income countries for the next decade—to meet Sustainable Development Goal 2, ending hunger by 2030, and to build more sustainable food security. 

But how should that money be spent?

Food prices, as reflected in the FAO Food Price Index, rose to a three-year high in 2020. While the Index closed the year 3.1 percent higher than 2019, however, it remained well below the peak seen in 2011.

In addition to this year-on-year increase, the December Food Price Index also showed a rise of 2.2 percent from November.  This marked the seventh straight monthly increase in food prices.

While global food systems have remained generally resilient to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, regional and local systems, especially in food-deficit countries, face growing challenges. These include diminished purchasing power, disruptions to domestic supply chains, and higher food import costs due to rising global prices, according to the latest AMIS Market Monitor. Understanding how COVID-19 is affecting local and global food value chains is key in establishing effective policy responses to mitigate the harmful impacts of the ongoing public health crisis.

The FAO Food Price Index spiked sharply in November to hit its highest level in almost six years and the largest month-on-month increase since July 2012. The steep rise was driven by increases in commodity prices across the board.