Food Security

The COVID-19 pandemic is undermining food and nutrition security on a global scale. IFPRI estimates show that globally, 80-140 million people were at risk of falling into extreme poverty in 2020, more than half in Africa south of the Sahara. The World Food Programme estimated that globally, the number of people facing acute food insecurity could double in the same period.

The long-awaited implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), slated for January 2021, could transform agricultural value chains, agri-business, employment, and food security in the region, according to a new report from the Malabo Montpelier Panel. The free trade area could add as much as USD 76 billion to global income and increase intra-African trade by more than 50 percent.

Third in a series of posts on briefs by the Think20 (T20) task force on Sustainable Energy, Food, and Water Systems. T20 is a G20 engagement group that connects and collaborates with think tanks around the world to provide ideas and recommendations. The task force is one of 10 advising this year’s Saudi Arabia G20 Presidency, which just culminated in the Nov. 21-22 summit. Read the other posts here and here.

Fourth in a series of posts on a research project in Guatemala and Burundi that evaluated how to optimize food assistance programs for the maximum impact. Read the first piece here, the second here , and the third here.

This post originally appeared on IFPRI.org .

By Francesca Edralin

Ethiopia’s rapid economic and agricultural growth over the past two decades is a well-known African success story. In 2000, Ethiopia ranked as the second-poorest country in the world , according to Oxford University’s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index. Then, thanks in large part to sustained investments in the agricultural sector, the economy grew and poverty fell. Ethiopia was the third-fastest growing country in the world from 2000 to 2018 based on GDP per capita, according to World Bank data.