Food Insecurity in Africa: Drivers and Solutions
Publisher: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Author(s): Caroline Delgado, Kristina Tschunkert, and Dan Smith
Date: 2023
Topics: Climate Change, Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, Livelihoods, Programming, Public Health
Global food insecurity is rapidly increasing. In 2021 an estimated 29.3 per cent of the global population (2.3 billion people) was moderately or severely food insecure while 828 million people in the world (10.5 per cent of the world population) faced hunger. There are significant regional disparities and Africa bears the heaviest burden. In 2021, a total of 20.2 per cent of the African population was facing hunger, compared to 9.1 per cent in Asia, 8.6 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 5.8 per cent in Oceania and less than 2.5 per cent in North America and Europe. Current projections indicate that the situation will worsen in the coming years. The key drivers of the increasing levels of food insecurity are violent conflict, climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
This paper provides an overview of the impact of these four drivers on food security in Africa. Africa is host to a large proportion of the world’s armed conflicts and exceptionally exposed to climate change compared to other regions. Since 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed around 40 million African people into extreme poverty.