Food Crisis and Related Risk Factors

The food insecurity situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly dire. A recent blog of just 10 days ago and based on an assessment by the World Food Programme pointed out that during October and November, 80 percent of the population in Gaza was displaced and more than 80 percent suffered food deficiencies.

Introduction

Nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced in the ongoing conflict, which has entered its second month. A recent World Food Programme rapid food security assessment conducted during the temporary humanitarian pause in fight in late November has found evidence of unprecedented humanitarian crisis, including widespread food insecurity.

Background

In early 2022, Sudha Narayanan, Shahidur Rashid, and I (IFPRI), and Alex Winter-Nelson (University of Illinois) began pulling together a Special Issue for the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy focused on COVID-19 in South Asia. Our goal was to distill forward-looking lessons for the developing world by drawing on similar and disparate country-level experiences. The issue is now available online and its 14 papers provide important lessons for future shocks.

Since early 2020, Guatemala has faced a multitude of food security shocks: from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions on movement and disruptions to agricultural trade to widespread flooding following several major tropical storms to skyrocketing staple food prices. A new article in World Development examines the immediate and longer term impact of these shocks on households’ incomes, diets, food security, and migration decisions, particularly in rural areas.

With one in six people around the world almost entirely dependent on international trade to meet their food needs, agricultural trade can clearly play a pivotal role in both addressing and exacerbating food security challenges. While progress has been made to bring attention to food security needs in trade negotiations in recent years, harmful policies like temporary food export restrictions are still a common reaction to price spikes, market disruptions, and production shortfalls – shocks that are likely to become increasingly frequent due to climate change and ongoing conflicts.