The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) produces the annual ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ report. This year it confirms the massive disruptions to agriculture and food systems that have inflated food prices because of war and conflict, climatic extremes, and geopolitical energy shocks, all marring progress towards the 2030 global nutrition targets, with very uneven outlooks across regions.
In 2025, 645 million people were hungry—higher than recorded in 2019 (pre-Covid). “For the first time, Africa hosts the largest number of people facing hunger” at 309 million of its people (20 percent of the population)—compared to 292 million in Asia (six percent of the population) and 32 million (4.8 percent of the population) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), afflicted by hunger.
Anaemia among women aged 15-49 is worsening and projected to reach 33 percent by 2030- far from the 50 percent reduction target for Agenda 2030. Only marginal improvements show in stunting, wasting and being overweight in children under five. Africa realised a marked decrease in child stunting and is on course to reach the child overweight and wasting targets. Adults worldwide are more obese (16.2 percent from 12.1 percent in 2012).
The goal on “ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition” centres dietary quality (above food sufficiency). At a minimum, healthy diets are about adequate, balanced, diverse and moderate food intake and key to human health and wellbeing.
High costs of living have denied one third of people in the world access to a healthy diet. In Africa, more than 60 percent of the population could not afford a healthy diet. Which is more than double the estimates for Asia and the LAC regions. By food groups, animal source foods are the costliest in Africa, while vegetables are the more expensive category in the LAC region.
Unhealthy diets have economic and health costs. The report tracks dietary diversity for the first time- finding that globally, less than one-third of children under the age of two achieved minimum dietary diversity. Most children (under 2 years) worldwide lack essential nutrients for healthy growth and development. On this metric, only one in five African children received the minimum needed dietary diversity.
Globally, less than two thirds of women aged 15-49 met the required minimum dietary diversity – which partly explains the high levels of anaemia in this group. Regional disparities show, with North America and Europe having the highest level of minimum dietary diversity for women (at almost 80 percent), followed closely by LAC (77.5 percent) and Asia (65 percent).
Africa lags at less than 50 percent (43 percent). Given the pivotal role of healthy diets to curbing hunger and malnutrition, what policy steps and actions would reduce the cost of a healthy diet? The cost of a healthy diet is the average minimum cost of buying health locally available foods (from the six food groups: starch staples; animal source foods; legumes, nuts, and seeds; vegetables; fruits; and oil and fats).
Policy interventions to improve the cost of a healthy diet are best when tailored to contexts and include using domestic production and trade to expand the supply of nutritious foods. Specific strategies can target agricultural research and development initiatives and regulatory interventions in subsidy design and taxation.
Directing public spending to boost domestic production of diverse high-cost food groups (like animal source foods, fruits, vegetables and legumes) is more effective in improving affordability than giving support (as via subsidies) to low-cost starch staples which make up only about one sixth of the cost.
Similarly helpful, is gunning for value chain efficiency (through better transportation, storage, energy, and market information)—especially for food groups like perishable vegetables that require energy intensive cold chains to curb losses. Lowering input costs (of agricultural labour and things like fertiliser and electricity) relates to reining in food prices.
For optimal gains from improved primary production, target reduced food loss and waste since “post farm-gate activities account for up to 75 percent of consumer food expenditures worldwide”. In low-income countries, post-harvest losses of perishable foods is a key driver of high food prices (and a major cost point for traders and processors). Addressing “midstream value chain inefficiencies”—transport, storage, and processing is valuable.
Re-look production incentives (subsidies, procurement, and price support) to shape farmers’ priorities. Rather than the typical policy focus on starch staples, shift attention towards nutrient dense (but costly) foods like fruits, vegetables and legumes, which boost healthy diets. Structural transformation of the animal source food sector in Africa (also its most expensive) would be game changing.
Ultimately, reducing the cost of a healthy diet is a matter of redistribution—meaning tackling gaps in land tenure systems, credit, seeds, and technology access as crucial factors in boosting small-scale production in low-income countries.
