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The latest Global Weather Hazards Summary from FEWS Net is reporting dry conditions throughout parts of Africa and Central America.

Last year witnessed the culmination of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the launch of a new global development agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to IFPRI’s 2016 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) , launched in Washington, DC last week, achieving the ambitious aims of the SDGs – which include eliminating extreme poverty, hunger, and malnutrition while encouraging sustainable growth and conserving the environment by 2030 – will require coordinated action at the global, regional, national, and local community levels.

FEWS Net has released its latest Global Weather Hazards Summary for March 11-17, 2016. The report covers ongoing and recent weather conditions throughout the world; this latest report covers Africa, Central Asia, Central America and the Caribbean.

Global wheat export prices fell in February as a result of slowing trade activity, ample supplies, and generally good growing conditions throughout the Northern Hemisphere, according to this month's FAO Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulletin . These prices reflect a decline of almost 20 percent from February 2015.

FAO's first Crop Prospects and Food Situation report of 2016 estimates that while global stocks remain at adequate levels, a total of 34 countries are in need of external food assistance due to a combination of civil conflict and El Niño-linked weather conditions. Twenty-seven of those countries are in Africa, where adverse weather resulted in significantly lower 2015 cereal harvests. Crop production prospects for southern Africa have been particularly affected, and this is likely to have severe food security implications in the region, according to the report.