Data

Surging cereal export prices brought the FAO Food Price Index to a two-year high in January. The Index rose 2.1 percent above its December level, to 173.8 points. This is the highest level seen since February 2015 and as much as 24.5 points above its January 2016 level.

The global population is expected to grow to more than 9 billion people by 2050. In such a scenario, ensuring the availability of and access to affordable and nutritious food will be a major challenge.

Climate change, disease outbreaks, price spikes, conflict - resilience to such shocks has become a widespread goal among development practitioners and policymakers, but what exactly is resilience? How can we define resilience and how can it be measured to ensure that programs and policies aimed at increasing poor populations’ resilience to shocks truly enhance food security and overall welfare?

The FAO’s latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation Report for 2016 forecasts world cereal production at 2,578 million tonnes, 1.7 percent above 2015 cereal output. This gain is being driven mainly on larger maize and wheat crops. The Crop Prospects and Food Situation Report is published four times a year and provides a review of the food situation by geographic region; it also includes a section dedicated to Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDC) and a list of countries requiring external food assistance.

The FAO Food Price Index, released today, fell slightly in November but remains 10.4 percent higher than its November 2015 level. This month's small decline, driven mostly by falling oil prices, interrupted the rising trend seen since the start of 2016.

The Cereal Price Index fell 0.6 percent in November and is as much as 12 points below its year-earlier level. Good global supply prospects, particularly for wheat in Argentina and Australia, have supported this decrease.