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Akshath Kaimal
4 September 2026 |
On 21 July, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026” (SOFI) report, which tracks food insecurity, undernourishment, child stunting, and maternal malnutrition, among others, worldwide. The 2026 report found that Africa surpassed Asia as the epicentre of global hunger, underscoring significant direct and structural drivers behind the rise. While the 2025 report highlighted the stubbornly high rates of food inflation, insecurity, and undernourishment, the 2026 report looked at the expanding unaffordability crisis and the impact of conflict, climate shocks, and policy missteps.
The following are five major takeaways from the report.
1. Africa emerges as the epicentre of global hunger
Africa officially surpassed Asia as the global hunger epicentre, as its undernourished population rose from 307 million in 2024 to 309 million in 2025, while Asia's count fell by nearly 17 million, as part of a consistent declining trend. Although Africa’s overall hunger rate stabilised at 20 per cent, the crisis remains heavily concentrated in Middle and Eastern Africa, with prevalence routinely exceeding 28 per cent to 30 per cent. Countries like South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Somalia face acute hunger emergencies. Escalating conflicts, civil violence, and climate shocks like droughts and floods that displace rural populations are the primary triggers. Rapid demographic growth outpacing agricultural yields, alongside chronic rural infrastructure underinvestment, has left Central and Eastern Africa exceptionally vulnerable compared to Northern Africa, where stronger import mechanisms better cushion domestic consumption.
2. Food insecurity remains concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa amid localised spikes
Although combined rates of moderate and severe food insecurity across Africa experienced a slight dip from 58.9 per cent in 2024 to 56.6 per cent in 2025, the geographical burden remains concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa. Western and Central African countries - such as Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso - continue to endure severe volatility. Escalating armed insurgencies across the Sahel violently displace farming communities, forcing them to abandon their fields, halting local food production and disrupting supply chains. Simultaneously, Southern African countries like Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Zambia face major localised spikes. Recurring El Niño-induced climate shocks like prolonged droughts followed by erratic floods have devastated rain-fed staple harvests like maize. Structural factors like heavy reliance on unirrigated subsistence farming, minimal mechanisation, and entrenched economic inequality further perpetuate this vulnerability. Consequently, even minor localised climate shocks or currency devaluations degrade household purchasing power, pushing millions of rural and peri-urban families into moderate or severe food insecurity.
3. Affordability crisis continues to impact access to healthy diets
In 2025, 66.6 per cent of Africans - over 1 billion people - remained unable to afford a healthy diet, unchanged from 2024. This crisis is geographically skewed: unaffordability in low-income Eastern and Middle African countries like Ethiopia, Mozambique, and the DRC exceeds 75 per cent, contrasting with lower rates in Northern African countries like Egypt and Morocco. Primary price drivers include domestic inflation and currency devaluations, making nutrient-dense foods account for nearly 70 per cent of a healthy diet's cost in Africa. To add to that, severe cold-chain storage deficits, poor rural roads, high processing costs, and disjointed trade routes drive up transport and spoilage costs, artificially inflating prices for nutritious foods and pushing vulnerable populations toward cheap, calorie-dense staples.
4. Reduction of child stunting and maternal malnutrition remains geographically fragmented
While global child stunting fell to 23.2 per cent in 2024, progress in Africa remains fragmented. Northern and Southern Africa lead reductions, whereas Central and Western African countries like Nigeria, DRC, and Chad face stalled progress. Immediate triggers include seasonal food shortages and unaffordable complementary foods for infants, driven by population growth and rural healthcare deficits. In parallel, maternal nutrition has also stagnated, with over 30 per cent of reproductive-age women suffering from anaemia - concentrated in Sahelian and Eastern African countries like Niger, Mali, Somalia, and South Sudan. This is primarily a result of severe micronutrient deficiencies and low dietary diversity during pregnancy, reinforced structurally by entrenched gender inequities, limited healthcare coverage, and persistent rural poverty.
5. Significance of subsidy repurposing and investments to address affordability
To resolve the affordability crisis in Africa, the report recommends enacting systemic reforms. The primary recommendation is the immediate repurposing of agricultural subsidies. Currently, public spending heavily favours low-cost staple grains and sugar. The report urges governments to redirect this fiscal support toward nutrient-dense foods - like fruits, vegetables, and legumes - to lower retail prices. Furthermore, to overcome logistical bottlenecks, the report says policymakers must prioritise investments in cold-chain storage, climate-resilient irrigation, and rural road networks. Finally, enhancing cross-border trade integration, particularly across Eastern and Western Africa, is recommended to stabilise regional food markets, reduce transport losses, and sustainably improve dietary access for vulnerable populations.
Conclusion
While minor statistical improvements in food security offer some hope, Africa’s emergence as the epicentre of global hunger highlights a major structural crisis. Relying on short-term fixes and inefficient subsidies is grossly inadequate given the continent’s rapid demographic growth, logistical challenges, and climate shocks, which make a healthy diet unaffordable for two-thirds of the population. Without subsidy reform and investments in infrastructure, achieving Zero Hunger by 2030 will remain out of reach.
