With high food prices affecting people around the world, especially in low-income countries, Alvaro Lario, President of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), highlighted the urgency of making strategic investments in agriculture and rural development to prevent future food price increases and ensure access to healthy diets for all. His video statement was delivered at the Special Event dedicated to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 (SOFI 2025) report, on the margins of the ECOSOC High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at UN Headquarters in New York, today ahead of the full report launch on 28 July.
According to the analysis on 2021-2023 food prices conducted in the report, the extensive fiscal and monetary interventions responding to the COVID-19 pandemics, combined with the consequences of the war in Ukraine and recurring climate shocks, have contributed to inflationary pressures and high food prices in recent years. Low-income countries have been hit particularly hard. While median global food price inflation increased from 2.3 per cent in December 2020 to 13.6 per cent in early 2023, it climbed even higher in low-income countries, peaking at 30 per cent in May 2023.
“Rising food prices increase hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition – and it is the poorest and most vulnerable, who spend a larger share of their income on food, that are most affected,” said Lario. He also emphasized the need to step up investments in rural and agricultural transformation. “Agrifood systems remain fundamental in ensuring macro-economic stability,” he underlined.
Click here to see more...