ENDING HUNGER IS POSSIBLE: - An income-generating approach through value addition

Table of Contents

• Figure 1 Prevalence of undernourishment and acute food insecurity, 2017–2023 15
• Figure 2 Prevalence of poverty in the global population compared to income inequality, measured by Gini index, 2003–2022 16
• Figure 3 Prevalence of undernourishment for countries with high inequality compared to countries not affected by a major driver of food insecurity and malnutrition, 2013–2023 17
• Figure 4 The average prevalence of undernourishment in countries affected by one of the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition in 2023 18
• Figure 5 Number of recorded natural disaster events, 1900–2023 20
• Figure 6 Acute food insecurity driven by weather extremes 20
• Figure 7 Total factor productivity evolution in agriculture, 1990–2021 21
• Figure 8 Volume of lending by the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF) by value chain, 2014–2023 24
• Figure 9 Supply of financing provided by domestic and regional lenders to agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries compared to need, 2022 25
• Figure 10 Breakdown of agriculture deals by sub-sector, 2021–2023 25
• Figure 11 Food loss from post-harvest to distribution in 2021 26
• Figure 12 Price at point of harvest in Zambia, compared with prices at point of sale in Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania 28
• Figure 13 Scope of the Food Loss and Food Waste Index along the supply chain 36
• Figure 14 The Food Securities Fund model 43
• Figure 15 The Farmfit Fund structure 44
• Figure 16 Roots of Impact and Root Capital’s Social Impact Incentives lending model 45
• Figure 17 Innovative outcomes-based financing model 46
• Figure 18 Additional cost of ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030 according to various modelling exercises 54
• Figure 19 G7 official development assistance (ODA) for food security and nutrition as a percentage of all ODA, 2015–2022 56
• Figure 20 G7 official development assistance for food security and nutrition compared to emergency food assistance, 2015–2022 57
• Figure 21 Evolution of World Food Programme requests for aid, compared with acute and chronic food insecurity, 2017–2023 58
• Table 1 Effect of cold storage on the perishability of vegetables and fruits in Sudan 37
• Box 1 Resilience of agropastoral populations in Eastern Sudan 30
• Box 2 Ethiopia’s Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks development 34
• Box 3 The Food Loss App 36
• Box 4 The Cambodia Programme for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the Fisheries Sector: Capture component 40
• Box 5 Sustainable pineapple value chain development in Suriname 42
• Box 6 Food Securities Fund 43
• Box 7 IDH Farmfit Fund 44
• Box 8 Roots of Impact 45
• Box 9 Innovative approaches to reducing post-harvest losses 50
• Abbreviations 4
• Foreword 9
• Acknowledgements 10
• Executive summary 11
• 1 Introduction 13
• 2 Food insecurity and malnutrition in an era of risks and uncertainties 14
• 2.1 Hunger in numbers 14
• 2.2 Poverty, rising inequalities and persistent food price inflation 16
• 2.3 The major drivers of hunger and malnutrition: climate change, economic shocks, conflict and geopolitical instability 18
• 3 Structural challenges in agrifood systems: The problems 21
• 3.1 Slowdown in agricultural productivity and supply chain vulnerabilities – limited mechanization and labour shortages 21
• 3.2 Lack of agrifood processing, distribution and retail: value added industries and skilled labour 23
• 3.3 Lack of access to finance for the “missing middle”: small-scale producers and agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises 23
• 3.4 Poor quality and inadequate infrastructure for irrigation, roads, storage and electricity 26
• 3.5 Weak trade, regional integration and highly concentrated markets dominated by a few lead firms 27
• 4 An income-generating approach to end hunger and malnutrition: The solutions 30
• 4.1 Improvements in productivity through agricultural research and development, extension services and farm mechanisation 30
• 4.2 Value addition and income-generation through agrifood processing and improved skills 34
• 4.3 Financing the “missing middle”: small-scale producers and agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises 41
• 4.4 Investment to build and maintain infrastructure for irrigation, roads, storage and electricity 49
• 4.5 Trade and competition policy, and regional integration 51
• 4.6 Accelerating income generation through social protection programmes 52
• 5 Ending hunger and malnutrition: What would it cost? 54
• 5.1 Estimates of the cost of ending hunger 54
• 5.2 The cost of inaction 55
• 5.3 The hidden costs of the agrifood system 55
• 5.4 Financing the investment gap 56
• 5.5 The growing humanitarian finance and the need to balance better with long-term development finance 57
• 6 From recommendations to action 61
• References 63