Food Security Assessment, GFA-15

by Stacey Rosen, Shahla Shapouri, Birgit Meade, Michael Trueblood, William M. Liefert, and Constanza Valdes

Just over 900 million people in the 70 low-income countries studied in this report are estimated to have consumed less than the recommended nutritional requirements in 2003. This marks a decline from more than 1 billion in 2002. Although food security is expected to improve in all regions over the coming decade, this improvement will vary. Food security is projected to improve most significantly in Asia, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean. Although some improvement is also expected in Sub-Saharan Africa, the deep poverty at the root of hunger problems in the lower income population will remain unchanged. Food aid has been and continues to be an important tool used by the international community to fight hunger in low-income countries, and the United States is the dominant food donor country. However, the effectiveness of food aid could be improved by increased coordination between donor groups, more transparent eligibility criteria, and fewer fluctuations in year-to-year aid levels.

Keywords: Food security, hunger, nutritional requirement, food gaps, Brazil, Russia, zero-hunger programs, income distribution, poverty, purchasing power, access, policy reform, consumers, Iraq, Africa, Latin America & Caribbean, Asia, CIS, agricultural economics

In this publication...