Early Warning Systems Hub Reports

This post originally appeared on IFPRI.org blog.

In a recent blog post, we analyzed how the spread of the disease associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) may bring damage to the global economy, and with it to food security and efforts to reduce poverty. We emphasized that the economic impacts of the present pandemic will be different from previous ones, including SARS, avian influenza, and MERS, which caused direct damage to livestock sectors, leading to food shortages and food price hikes in affected areas. No major food shortages have emerged thus far because of COVID-19.

For the past three years, the number of people around the world in urgent need of food and nutrition assistance has remained above 100 million, according to the annual Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC). The annual report aims to provide governments, international organizations, and other stakeholders with the data and analysis needed to respond to and prevent the crises that lead to such massive food-insecure populations. In a first-ever mid-year update to the report, GRFC partners provide a revised look at the severity of current global food crises in terms of the number of acutely food-insecure people, as well as the status of the crisis: Improving, deteriorating, or stable.

The world’s humanitarian assistance and spending needs have more than doubled over the past decade, growing by around 127 percent. Around 40 percent of that went to the food and agriculture sectors. Those needs have intensified over the past few years, as conflict and climate shocks have combined to increase the number of people worldwide who require humanitarian aid to fulfill basic daily food needs.

The world’s urgent humanitarian assistance needs continued to grow in 2017, according to the 2018 Global Report on Food Crises. An estimated 124 million people across 51 countries currently face crisis-level or worse food insecurity, up from 104 million people across 48 countries in 2016.

The latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report from FAO was recently released. Published quarterly, these reports focus on developments affecting the food situation of developing countries and Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries (LIFDCs). The report also includes an overview of global cereal production prospects and highlight countries that require external food assistance.