Food Security

Since the food price crisis of 2007-2008, there has been significant attention paid to the issue of price transmission from global to national markets, particularly in developing regions such as Africa south of the Sahara. A new paper published in the Journal of Agricultural Economics looks at seven key food security crops in Nigeria - maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, yams, and cowpeas - to assess local (both urban and rural), regional, and international price transmission.

The FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) has released updated country briefs for Ethiopia and Tanzania. These briefs provide up-to-date food security and agricultural information, as well as forecasts for cereal imports and production and other food security-related indicators.

Malnutrition during the first two years of life can lead to increased risk of child morbidity and mortality. Globally, malnutrition causes 45 percent of all deaths reported for children under the age of 5. In addition, malnutrition can cause suboptimal brain development, which negatively affects cognitive development and can lead to poor educational performance and low productivity in adulthood.

The latest series of updated country alerts from FEWS Net provides food security and food production updates for several countries in Africa south of the Sahara.

A diverse and nutrient-dense diet is key in the fight against malnutrition. However, in many developing countries, poor households are unable to afford an adequately nutritious diet. A recent study by Fantu Bachewe , Kalle Hirvonen , Bart Minten , and Feiruz Yimer of IFPRI’s Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP) looks at the rising prices of non-staple foods over the past ten years in Ethiopia, where children eat the least diverse diets in all of Africa south of the Sahara and suffer from stunted growth as a result.