Africa Regional Overview Of Food Security And Nutrition 2021

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis report has been jointly prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization ofthe United Nation’s (FAO) Regional Office for Africa (FAORAF), the United NationsEconomic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the African Union Commission (AUC) inclose cooperation with FAO’s Statistics Division and the FAO Subregional Office forEastern Africa (FAOSFE).The report was produced under the overall leadership of Abebe Haile-Gabriel,FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, WilliamLugemwa, ECA Director, Private Sector Development and Finance Division, andJosefa Leonel Correia Sacko, AUC Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development,Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment. Andre Croppenstedt (FAO), MedhatEl-Helepi (ECA) and Simplice Nouala (AUC) led the report’s technical coordination.The FAO-AUC-ECA collaboration was supported and facilitated by Kafkas Caprazli(FAO), under the guidance of Chimimba David Phiri, FAO Subregional Coordinator forEastern Africa and Representative to the AUC and ECA.Máximo Torero Cullen and José Rosero Moncayo from FAO headquarters providedguidance in terms of structure and content of the report, Olivier Lavagne d'Ortigueprovided support for data visualization, Anne Kepple, Juan Feng, Olivier Lavagned’Ortigue, Hernán Muñoz, Filippo Gheri, Koffi Amegbeto, Ali Said, Kafkas Caprazli,Abdoulaye Mbaye and Patrice Talla Takoukam provided valuable commentsand inputs.Zoie Jones and Samuel Creppy (FAO) coordinated the publishing process. vii

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONSBMIbody mass indexFAOFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsFIESFood Insecurity Experience ScaleIFADInternational Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentPoUPrevalence of undernourishmentSDGSustainable Development GoalsUNICEFUnited Nations Children’s FundWFPWorld Food ProgrammeWHAWorld Health AssemblyWHOWorld Health Organization viii

CHAPTER 1SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 2.1:UNDERNOURISHMENT AND FOOD INSECURITYKey messages Africa is not on track to meet the food security and nutrition targets of SustainableDevelopment Goal 2. After a long period of improvement between 2000 and 2013,hunger has worsened substantially and most of this deterioration occurred between2019 and 2020.In 2020, 281.6 million Africans were undernourished, an increase of 89.1 millionover 2014.There is significant variation in the levels and trends of hunger across thesubregions. About 44.4 percent of undernourished people on the continent live inEastern Africa, 26.7 percent in Western Africa, 20.3 percent in Central Africa,6.2 percent for Northern Africa, and 2.4 percent for Southern Africa.In addition to the 346.4 million Africans suffering from severe food insecurity,452 million suffer from moderate food insecurity.Conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturnsare the key drivers of food insecurity in Africa.By disrupting economic and livelihood activities, the COVID-19 pandemic has ledto a dramatic economic downturn in Africa and contributed to the worsening foodsecurity situation.In the short term, countries need to provide humanitarian assistance and effectivesocial protection measures to effectively improve food security and nutrition. Overthe longer term, countries will need to invest in agriculture and related sectors,as well as in water, health, and in education services to reduce vulnerabilities andbuild capacities to withstand shocks from climate change and conflicts, as well aseconomic downturns and slowdowns. 1

AFRICA 1.1 PREVALENCE OF UNDERNOURISHMENTThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation’s (FAO) prevalence ofundernourishment (PoU) indicator is derived from official country data on food supply,food consumption and energy needs, while taking into consideration demographiccharacteristics such as age, sex and levels of physical activity. Designed to capture astate of energy deprivation lasting over a year, it does not reflect the short-lived effectsof temporary crises or a temporarily inadequate intake of essential nutrients.FAO strives always to improve the accuracy of the PoU estimates by taking intoaccount new information; the entire historical series is updated for each report. Forthis reason, only the current series of estimates should be used, including for values inpast years. 1Hunger in Africa, as measured by the PoU, has worsened significantly since 2014( FIGURE 1). In 2020, 21 percent of the population was undernourished, a rise of4.3 percentage points since 2014. About 70 percent of the increase in the PoUbetween 2014 and 2020 occurred in the period from 2019 to 2020.The continent is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2targets to end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficientfood all year round and to end all forms of malnutrition. In part this is due to povertyand inequality, and to the underlying structural causes that amplify the main driversof food insecurity and malnutrition such as conflict, climate variability and extremes,economic slowdowns and downturns and the unaffordability of a healthy diet. The pastfour editions of the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition coveredthese drivers in detail. 2 In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures takenby many countries to contain it added to the already existing challenges, furtherundermining efforts to reduce hunger and malnutrition in the region. 3In 2020, 281.6 million Africans were undernourished, an increasea of 89.1 millionsince 2014 ( FIGURE 3 and TABLE 2). Of the total number of undernourished, 125.1 millionpeople live in Eastern Africa, followed by Western Africa (75.2 million), Central Africa(57.1 million), Northern Africa (17.4 million) and Southern Africa (6.8 million). Africaaccounts for 55 percent of the global rise in the number of undernourished over the2014 to 2020 period. In addition, Eastern and Western Africa account for 83 percent ofthe Africa-wide increase over the 2014 to 2020 period.1 FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. 2019. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019. Safeguarding against economicslowdowns and downturns. Rome, FAO.2 For conflict see: FAO. 2017. Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Africa 2017. The food security and nutrition–conflictnexus: building resilience for food security, nutrition and peace. Accra (http://www.fao.org/3/i7967e/i7967e.pdf). For climate extremesand variability see: FAO & ECA. 2018. Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition. Addressing the threat from climate variabilityand extremes for food security and nutrition. Accra (http://www.fao.org/3/ca2710en/CA2710EN.pdf). For economic slowdownsand downturns see: FAO, ECA & AUC. 2020. Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2019. Containing the damageof economic slowdowns and downturns to food insecurity in Africa. Rome (http://www.fao.org/3/ca7343en/ca7343en.pdf). Forunaffordability of healthy diets, see: FAO, ECA & AUC. 2021. Africa regional overview of food security and nutrition 2020: Transformingfood systems for affordable healthy diets. Accra, FAO (http://www.fao.org/3/cb4831en/cb4831en.pdf).3 For a more detailed exposition on the impact of COVID-19 on hunger and malnutrition see: FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO.2021. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition andaffordable healthy diets for all. Rome, FAO (http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/cb4474en.pdf). Also see: FAO. 2021. Assessing the impactof the COVID-19 pandemic on agriculture, food security and nutrition in Africa. Accra, FAO. 2

REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION: STATISTICS AND TRENDSFIGURE 20102012201420162018MILLIONSPERCENTAGEPrevalence of undernourishment inthe world and Africa, and the numberof undernourished in Africa02020Prevalence of undernourishment (Africa)Prevalence of undernourishment (world)Number of undernourished (Africa)SOURCE: FAO.NOTES: Values for 2020 are projections. The bars indicate the range of the 2020 BLE 1Prevalence of undernourishment 38.49.9Africa24.818.016.716.918.021.0Central Africa41.428.927.928.730.331.8Eastern Africa39.928.424.724.825.628.1Northern Africa9.27.35.96.16.47.1Southern Africa5.86.26.87.57.610.1Western Africa16.911.311.611.512.918.7SOURCE: FAO.NOTE: Values for 2020 are projections. 3

AFRICAFIGURE 2Prevalence of undernourishmentin Africa by 00620082010AfricaNorthern AfricaCentral AfricaSouthern AfricaEastern AfricaWestern Africa20122014201620182020SOURCE: FAO.NOTE: Values for 2020 are Tables 1 and 2 and FIGURE 3 show a wide variation in the PoU and the number ofundernourished at the subregional level, and this is also true at the country level( FIGURE 4). In addition, the changes in the PoU over time also vary, with most, but notall countries, registering a higher PoU for the 2018–2020 average, compared to2013–2015. 4As already mentioned, the situation and trends in the PoU are determined by anumber of key and often overlapping drivers, including conflict, climate variability andextremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns. The situation is often exacerbatedby difficult underlying conditions, such as poverty and inequality, and, in some cases,inappropriate policies. However, it is difficult to ascribe precisely the degree of impactby driver.4 Country-level estimates are reported as three-year moving averages, to control for the low reliability of some of the underlyingparameters. Regional and global aggregates, on the other hand, are reported as annual estimates, as possible estimation errors areexpected not to be correlated across countries. FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. 2021. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in theWorld 2021. Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all. Rome, FAO.https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4474en 4

REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION: STATISTICS AND TRENDSFIGURE 3Number of peopleundernourished in Africa by subregion300250MILLIONS20015010050020002002Central Africa200420062008Eastern Africa2010Northern Africa201220142016Southern Africa20182020Western AfricaSOURCE: FAO.NOTE: Values for 2020 are TABLE 2Number of peopleundernourished 281.6Central Africa39.838.041.844.352.957.1Eastern Africa102.796.393.696.5111.3125.1Northern Africa15.714.813.013.615.517.4Southern Africa3.03.64.24.75.16.8Western Africa39.634.739.840.550.675.2SOURCE: FAO.NOTE: Values for 2020 are projections. 5

AFRICAIn many countries, including Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria and Somalia,conflict, by destroying livelihoods and displacing thousands of people, was akey contributor to food insecurity. In some countries, including Madagascar andMozambique, adverse weather conditions were the key driver of food insecurity.In Eastern and Southern Africa, many countries suffer regularly from arid or droughtconditions. For example, in 2015/2016, El-Niño-related drought conditions affectedmany parts of Southern and Eastern Africa, leaving millions of people in need of urgentfood assistance. Cyclone Idai, which hit Southern African countries in 2019, especiallyMalawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, exacerbated the already precarious food securitysituation.In addition, economic slowdowns and downturns regularly affect many Africancountries, most of which are highly dependent on oil and other commodity exportsfor generating foreign exchange and tax revenue. Falling demand and prices forcommodities negatively affected many countries and worsened food security between2014 and 2016, with oil exporting countries worst affected.More recently, the different national and global measures undertaken to contain theCOVID-19 pandemic have disrupted economic and livelihood activities in servicesectors such as tourism, remittances, commodity exports, markets and commodityvalue chains. Real gross domestic product in Africa fell by 2.1 percent in 2020,primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 5Quantifying the full impact of COVID-19 on food security is not yet possible.The economic downturn associated with COVID-19 containment measures has led tolower incomes while food prices, as measured by the FAO Food Price Index, has beenrising since June 2020. 6 Falling incomes and rising prices may not necessarily lowerthe intake of overall calories, but they may force households to switch to lower cost,less nutritious food, thus lowering the quality of the diet. In addition, households mayreduce spending on health and education. The worsening food security situation isreflected in the PoU data as well as the prevalence of moderate or severe food securityin the population figures presented below.5 African Development Bank. 2021. African Economic Outlook 2021. From Debt Resolution to Growth: The Road Ahead for Africa.Abidjan, African Development Bank.6 See FAO. 2021. FAO price data and analysis. In: FAO Prices. Rome. Cited 15 October 2021. http://www.fao.org/prices/en/ 6

REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION: STATISTICS AND TRENDSFIGURE 4Prevalence of undernourishmentin Africa by countryCentral AfricaAngolaCameroonCentral African RepublicChadCongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoGabonSao Tome and PrincipeEastern usMozambiqueRwandaSomaliaUnited Republic of TanzaniaNorthern AfricaAlgeriaEgyptMoroccoSudanTunisiaSouthern AfricaBotswanaEswatiniLesothoNamibiaSouth AfricaWestern AfricaBeninBurkina FasoCabo VerdeCôte egalSierra LeoneTogo01020304050PERCENTAGE2018–20 averageSOURCE: FAO.NOTE: Values for 2020 are projections.https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7496en-fig04 7 2013–15 average6070

AFRICA 1.2 PREVALENCE OF FOOD INSECURITY BASED ON THEFOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALEThe Food Insecurity Experience Scale- (FIES) based prevalence of moderate or severefood insecurity is an estimate of the proportion of the population facing moderate orsevere constraints on their ability to obtain sufficient food over the course of a year.People face moderate food insecurity when they are uncertain of their ability to obtainfood and have been forced to reduce, at times over the year, the quality and/or quantityof food they consume due to lack of money or other resources. Severe food insecuritymeans that individuals have likely run out of food, experienced hunger and, at themost extreme, have gone for days without eating, putting their health and well-being atserious risk.FIGURE 5Prevalence of food insecurityin Africa by subregion807060PERCENTAGE5040302010AfricaCentral AfricaSevere food insecurityEastern AfricaModerate food insecuritySOURCE: FAO.https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7496en-fig05 8 Northern AfricaSouthern AfricaWestern 140

REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION: STATISTICS AND TRENDSTABLE 3Prevalence offood insecurity (percent)Moderate food insecurity201420192020Moderate or severefood insecuritySevere food 25.947.354.259.6Eastern Africa34.037.436.623.726.028.757.763.465.3Northern Africa19.520.120.710.28.89.529.728.930.2Southern Africa24.925.127.018.919.222.743.844.349.7Western Africa30.634.639.58.619.628.839.254.268.3Central Africa34.235.870.0SOURCE: FAO.The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity within the population in Africahas, similarly to the PoU, risen over the 2014–2020 period ( FIGURE 5). Althoughobtained using different data and methods, the prevalence of severe food insecurityis conceptually comparable to the PoU, and the estimates for the two indicators aresimilar at the continental level. At the subregional level, the two indicators are alsoclose, but the PoU estimates indicate lower levels of hunger for Western Africa, and inparticular, Southern Africa.The prevalence of severe food insecurity is highest in Central Africa (35.8 percent),but for moderate food insecurity the prevalence is higher in Eastern and Western Africa(36.6 and 39.5 percent, respectively) ( TABLE 3 and FIGURE 5). The latter two subregionsaccount for 71 percent of the moderately food insecure on the continent.More than one-quarter of the population of Africa, or 346.6 million people, suffer fromsevere food insecurity, with Central, Eastern and Western Africa worst affected( FIGURE 6 and TABLE 4). An additional 33.7 percent, or 452.2 million people ( TABLE 5), sufferfrom moderate food insecurity ( FIGURE 7 and TABLE 5).Country level data for the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity isavailable for most, but not all countries ( FIGURE 8). In nearly all cases for which twosets of observations are available, the food security situation deteriorated between2014–2016 and 2018–2020. 9

AFRICAFIGURE 6Number of severely food insecure people inAfrica by subregion140120100MILLIONS80604020020142016Central AfricaEastern Africa2018Northern Africa2020Southern AfricaWestern AfricaSOURCE: FAO.https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7496en-fig06TABLE 4Number of severelyfood insecure people 779.9927.6Africa203.5240.1262.9286.7346.6Eastern Africa89.9103.2105.6113.0127.9Northern Africa22.423.722.021.223.4Central Africa64.3Southern Africa11.712.112.612.815.3Western Africa29.646.863.976.7115.7SOURCE: FAO. 10

REGIONAL OVERVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION: STATISTICS AND TRENDSFIGURE 7Number of moderately or severelyfood insecure people in Africa by subregion300250MILLIONS20015010050020142016Central AfricaEastern Africa2018Northern Africa2020Southern AfricaWestern AfricaSOURCE: FAO.https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7496en-fig07TABLE 5Number of moderately orseverely food insecure people (millions)20142016201820192020World1 645.51 762.91 978.72 049.92 5275.0290.965.168.673.769.874.5Central AfricaEastern AfricaNorthern Africa125.7Southern Africa27.228.129.029.533.5Western Africa134.0164.4192.8212.0274.3SOURCE: FAO. 11

AFRICAFIGURE 8Prevalence of moderate or severe foodinsecurity in Africa by countryCentral AfricaAngolaCameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoEastern llesSomaliaSouth SudanUgandaUnited Republic of TanzaniaZambiaZimbabweNorthern AfricaAlgeriaEgyptLibyaMoroccoSudanTunisiaSouthern AfricaBotswanaEswatiniLesothoNamibiaSouth AfricaWestern AfricaBurkina FasoCabo galSierra Leone0102030405060PERCENTAGE2018–20 averageSOURCE: FAO.https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7496en-fig08 12 2013–15 average708090

CHAPTER 2SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 2.2:MALNUTRITIONKey messages In Africa, the prevalence of stunting in children under five years of age has fa

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the African Union Commission (AUC) in close cooperation with FAO's Statistics Division and the FAO Subregional Office for Eastern Africa (FAOSFE). The report was produced under the overall leadership of Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, William