Trade

After seven months of declines, the FAO Food Price Index rose slightly in March due to increased vegetable oil, dairy, and meat prices. The Index remained 7.7 percent below its March 2023 levels.

The war in Ukraine continues to disrupt the country’s agrifood sector, posing an ongoing threat to food security. Damage to critical infrastructure is hindering agricultural activity and the transportation of essential food to local markets and to export destinations. This situation, together with destroyed livelihoods and high inflation, is hampering access to food for millions of Ukrainians.

More than 7 million Ukrainians face acute food insecurity

During 2021 and 2022, global food and fertilizer prices spiked due to several overlapping factors. Demand rose as the world economy emerged from the COVID-19 recession; global supply chains suffered major disruptions associated with the uneven recovery; and the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine—both key food and fertilizer producers—generated yet another shock.

Every year, global food systems produce, process, transport, and market the food and agricultural products on which the world relies. However, these same global food systems also play a big role in—and face pressures from—climate impacts, environmental damage, food insecurity and malnutrition, public health problems, and food loss and waste. To tackle these challenges, we must urgently transform food systems. True food system transformation will have to go beyond the agricultural policy reforms enacted during the past 50 years.

This blog is based on finding from the IFPRI discussion paper, From farm to table: Agrifood systems and trade challenges in the Southern Cone.

Introduction