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This report captures the State of Food Security and Nutrition in Africa. The Official annual Regional Panorama for Africa In sub-Saharan Africa good progress was made in reducing hunger until 2010, after which time the decline in the prevalence of undernourishment came to a halt and then rose to 22.7 percent in 2016, while the number of undernourished rose to 224.3 million. In many countries, the worsening situation in 2015 and 2016 can be attributed to adverse climatic conditions, often linked to the El Niño phenomenon, resulting in poor harvests and threatening livestock populations. Conflict, sometimes in combination with drought [...]

Strong market interventions and regulations of agricultural products have been part of the import substitution strategy implemented by the previous government until 2015, when the new administration reversed it by opening the market. Throughout the review period (2007-2017), the country prioritized social spending through various programmes, all of which were sustained by the new administration.

During the period 2007-2017, Nigeria’s agriculture sector has undergone major reforms. The introduction of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) reformed the input delivery system, strengthened famers’ resilience to shocks and enhanced agricultural credit. In 2016, the government launched the Social Investment programme which aims at strengthening school feeding, conditional cash transfers and food bio-fortification programmes. 

During the period 2007-2016, the government’s main policies for the agricultural sector have focused on increasing domestic rice production, reforming the cotton sector and maintaining input subsidies programmes. With regards to consumer policies, the main forms of assistance include food distribution, food sales at subsidized prices, and ad hoc measures to stabilize food prices such as the closure of the border for food exports or the waiver of import duties on imported foods.

In recent years, government's investments in agriculture have focused on increasing land under irrigation, subsidizing inputs, strengthening the agricultural extension service and reforming agricultural sector institutions through the privatization of a number of parastatals. Although agriculture represents the largest contributor to Kenya's GDP, the allocation of public expenditure to the sector has remained below the five percent over the past decade.

Indonesia has charted impressive economic growth since the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. The national top priority is becoming self-sufficient in rice, maize, soybeans, sugar and beef. To achieve this, the Government is providing farmers with significant market price support, fertilizer subsidies and setting import restrictions. Social protection is being strenghtened through the consolidation of the RASKIN programme, the introduction of nutrition and cash transfer programmes and the substitution of fuel subsidies For more country policy briefs by FAPDA please see here.

This study offers a framework to better understand how addressing the specific priorities of men and women in nutrition and food interventions in conflict-affected contexts may shape peacebuilding processes and improve gender equality in the aftermath of violent conflicts.

Based on a joint FAO-WTO publication, this brief emphasizes the importance of applying international food safety standards, and the need for countries to invest in building their own capacity in this regard. This would allow trade to take place smoothly and without distortions. Also available in French. See the complete series: Trade Policy Briefs

This brief provides an overview of the evolution in bound and applied tariffs with a focus on tariff escalation. Also available in French. See the complete series: Trade Policy Briefs

The technical note describes a novel approach to measure changes in the affordability of nutritious diets in low-income settings, using price indexes to monitor how trade policy or market infrastructure and other factors influence the cost of reaching a standard threshold of dietary diversity.  Preliminary results for a new Cost of Diet Diversity price index in Ghana are provided.