FAO assesses that globally 42 countries, of which 32 are in Africa, continue to be in need of external assistance for food. Conflict‑driven crises are the main cause of the high levels of severe food insecurity. Additionally, agricultural droughts and floods have sharply reduced harvests and contributed to abrupt spikes in food prices significantly aggravating food insecurity.

From a global perspective, food commodity markets in 2019/20 should continue to be generally well supplied, with international prices remaining below their recent peaks. However, a fast changing trade environment along with the outbreaks of important animal and plant diseases could pose challenges for global market stability.

International prices of wheat rose in October after declining during the past few months due to strong demand for exports and lower production prospects in key producing countries of the Southern Hemisphere. Prices of maize also increased, supported by reduced supplies in the United States of America and a pick-up in sales from Argentina and Ukraine. By contrast, slow demand and harvest pressure caused international rice prices to subside. In...

The Government declares the food emergency law until 2022, as the upsurge of food prices is severely constraining access to food. Despite the expected record cereal production in 2019, prices continue to increase mainly due to the sharp weakening of the local currency and soaring inflation rate.

The number of food insecure people in Zimbabwe is projected to rise to 5.5 million people between January and March 2020, which would be the highest number on record. The heightened food insecurity is mainly the result of a cereal production shortfall and extremely high food prices, while macroeconomic difficulties have exacerbated the situation.

International prices of major cereals were steady to mildly lower in September amid large export availabilities. In East Africa, prices of coarse grains in September were at levels well above those a year earlier in several countries of the subregion mainly due to reduced harvests. In the Sudan and South Sudan, the main trigger of high food prices was the strong depreciation of the countries’ currencies. In Southern Africa, prices...

A comprehensive analysis of production, trade, and prices of bananas.

This policy brief is based on the FAO (2018) report “Policy coherence for agricultural transformation in African least developed countries: Aligning agriculture and trade policymaking processes”. The report presents the results of the Multi-partner Programme Support Mechanism (FMM) Project on Trade related capacity development for food security and nutrition in Eastern and Southern Africa, implemented by FAO and focusing on four least developed countries in Africa: Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and...