2023 Global Food Policy Report calls for rethinking food crisis responses

April 13, 2023, Washington, D.C. The 2023 Global Food Policy Report, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) today, offers critical evidence that can help policymakers, the private sector, and the international development community heed calls for a more proactive response to food system shocks. In 2022, the world faced multiple crises that added to the rising numbers of hungry and malnourished people. Continuing disruptions to food systems included the COVID-19 pandemic, major natural disasters, civil unrest and political instability, and climate change, all aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine war and related spikes in food and fertilizer prices. Already in 2021, some 768 million people were undernourished according to FAO’s State of Food Security and Nutrition Report, well above the low of 572 million reported in 2014; in 2022, the Global Report on Food Crises estimates that as many as 205 million people in 45 countries experienced crisis-level acute food insecurity or worse, nearly double the number in 2016.

“Crises, shocks, and volatility are no longer exceptions and may become the new normal,” said Johan Swinnen, Director General of IFPRI and Managing Director of the CGIAR Systems Transformation Science Group. “Hence, we should better predict and prepare, implement effective and accountable governance and institutions, and invest to build resilience against future crises. While discussions of a humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach have been underway for years, this report provides a solid policy basis for moving forward.”