SIRACUSA G7 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting The State of the Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 Report (SOFI)Statement

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The 2024 Report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) provided us with the latest global assessment of progress towards meeting SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2.

Once again, we were reminded that without any real transformative change the world will continue to be off-track towards ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 - or any time soon thereafter.

To reach the scale of actions needed, sufficient levels of financing to address food security and nutrition challenges are critical.

For this reason, the theme of this year’s report focuses on the financing needed to achieve SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2.

The updated assessment a concerning picture, but also gives us reasons for hope.

Global levels of hunger and food insecurity remain high, but there has been encouraging progress in many subregions of the world, and progress is also being made on several indicators of nutrition.

After rising sharply following the COVID-19 pandemic, global hunger has persisted at nearly the same level for three years in a row, affecting about 9.1% of the global population in 2023, compared with 7.5% in 2019.

About 733 million people faced hunger in 2023.

By 2030, this number is projected to decrease to 582 million, which is still far short of achieving the SDG2 Zero Hunger goal.

Furthermore, nearly 29% of the global population – that is 2.3 billion people – were moderately or severely food insecure in 2023. More women than men were food insecure, and more people in rural areas than in urban areas.

Updated and improved estimates of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet presented in the report show that more than one-third of people in the world – about 2.8 billion people – were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2022.

Without ensuring people’s access to adequate food and to a healthy diet, it will be difficult to achieve global nutrition targets. As I will show later, there has been some progress towards the goal of ending all forms of malnutrition, but the world is not on track to reach any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030.

More importantly, the latest data shows that adult obesity is increasing in every region of the world.

When we compare the trends in hunger across regions and subregions, significant differences emerge.

From 2022 to 2023, progress was made towards reducing hunger in some regions. In the case of Asia, undernourishment fell slightly, driven by a reduction in Southern Asia. However, hunger is still on the rise in Western Asia.

The most notable progress occurred in the Latin America and the Caribbean region and was driven by a 0.7 percentage-point decrease in the prevalence of undernourishment in South America. On the other hand, the situation in the Caribbean is worsening, as evidenced by a 0.4 percentage-point increase from 2022 to 2023.

The situation is especially concerning in Africa, where hunger increased by half a percentage point from 2022 to 2023. This is driven by increases in most subregions, with Middle Africa being the subregion where the largest increase was reported.

Africa also remains the region with the largest estimated proportion of the population facing hunger - about 20% - compared with 8% in Asia, 6% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 7% in Oceania.

Projections to 2030 show that notable improvements are expected in Asia, as well as some progress in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the situation in Africa is expected to worsen.

Monitoring economic access to a healthy diet is essential for informing policies aimed at improving food security and nutritional outcomes, thereby contributing to the achievement of SDG Targets 2.1 and 2.2.

Food prices rose throughout 2022, and this pushed up the average cost of a healthy diet globally. From 2021 to 2022, the cost of a healthy diet increased by 11% globally, with the largest increase in Latin America and the Caribbean (nearly 12%).

But despite rising food prices, the number of people globally who could not afford a healthy diet decreased from 2.88 billion in 2021 to 2.83 billion in 2022, close to pre-pandemic levels.

This was largely due to an economic recovery from the pandemic which contributed to increase the disposable income of the households. However, it is important to note that the recovery has been uneven across regions and country income groups.

The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet dropped below pre-pandemic levels in Asia and in Northern America and Europe, while increasing substantially in Africa.

In terms of income levels, in low-income countries the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet increased from 2020 to 2022 and it is well above the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. In contrast, in lower middle-income countries the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet declined but remained above pre-pandemic levels. Finally, for upper middle- and high-income countries the number fell below pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

Ending malnutrition is not only an integral part of SDG2, but it is also central to the achievement of all 17 SDGs, especially those related to health, education and gender equality.

Some progress has been made over the past decade, with improvements in the global prevalence of stunting and wasting among children under five years of age and of exclusive breastfeeding until six months of age.

Childhood stunting decreased from 26.3% in 2012 to 22.3% in 2022, and the percentage of infants under 6 months who are exclusively breastfed increased from 37.1% in 2012 to 48% in 2022. These improvements, as well as a decrease in wasting, are very encouraging, as they increase children’s chances of achieving their full potential for growth and development.

However, the global prevalence of anemia among women aged 15 to 49 years increased from 28.5% in 2012 to 29.9% in 2019. In the same way, new estimates of the global prevalence of adult obesity reveal a steady increase over the last decade, from 12% in 2012 to nearly 16% in 2022.

The time for transformative change is now if we are to achieve the SDG2 goals of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

This transformation will require scaling-up means of implementation, which can only be accomplished with more and better financing.

An analysis of 119 low- and middle-income countries, presented in the report, showed that the majority – nearly two-thirds – have limited or moderate ability to access financing.

The countries with the least access to financing had a higher prevalence of undernourishment.

Additionally, three-fourths of the countries analysed were affected by one or more major driver of food insecurity and malnutrition, namely:  conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns. Climate extremes was the most prevalent driver, but nearly half of countries with limited ability to access financing were affected by conflict.

This points to the need to strengthen the humanitarian–development–peace nexus and highlights important opportunities for embedding food security and nutrition objectives in humanitarian, climate and development finance.

For countries with limited access to financing, grants or concessional loans are the most suitable option to scale up financing for food security.

Countries with moderate ability to access financing can rely more heavily on domestic tax revenues, linking taxation to food security and nutrition outcomes. Fostering of collaborative financing partnerships following a blended finance approach is essential, as the level of financial risk can make other sources of financing too expensive.

We must meet the challenge of increasing access to financing for countries most in need. To do so, it is critical that we increase financial commitment towards these countries, and use the existing financing tools in more innovative, inclusive and equitable ways.

Thank you.