Economic shocks drive food insecurity

In Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, economic shocks, associated with soaring food prices and a severe deterioration in household purchasing power, were identified as the main drivers of acute food insecurity.

This is according to the 2023 Global Report on Food Crises, which estimated that during the period from 2021 to March 2022, corresponding to a lean season, 750 000 people were in crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above), including almost 120 000 people in emergency (IPC Phase 4).

"This is the highest figure reported by the IPC for Namibia and represents 30 percent of the country’s population.”

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Food Insecurity classification provides strategically relevant information to decision makers that focuses on short-term objectives to prevent, mitigate or decrease severe food insecurity that threatens lives or livelihoods.



Slow recovery

Key drivers of this worrying situation were drought, price shocks and the economic impacts of Covid-19 measures.

However, levels of acute food insecurity were nevertheless expected to decline significantly in Namibia, with the projected number of people in IPC Phase 3 or above decreasing to 390 000 in January to March this year.

According to the report, economic shocks are likely to drive acute food insecurity across the globe, as countries’ economic resilience have been severely undermined by a slow recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.



Food security erodes

The report highlighted that at the end of March, food prices were at extremely high levels in Namibia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Myanmar, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

"Persisting high food prices coupled with unsustainable debt levels in a number of food-crisis countries amid high interest rates and currency depreciation are expected to continue to erode households’ food access and constrain the fiscal capacity of governments to deliver assistance to populations."

The annual report, produced by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), was launched by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC).

The report stated that around 258 million people in 58 countries and territories faced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels (IPC Phases three to five) in 2022, up from 193 million people in 53 countries and territories in 2021. This is the highest number in the seven-year history of the report.

However, much of this growth reflects an increase in the population analysed.



Acute food security concerns

In 2022, the severity of acute food insecurity increased to 22.7% from 21.3% in 2021; it remains unacceptably high and underscores a deteriorating trend in global acute food insecurity, the report stated.

It added that while conflicts and extreme weather events continue to drive acute food insecurity and malnutrition, the economic fallout of the ?ovid-19 pandemic and the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine have also become major drivers of hunger, particularly in the world’s poorest countries, mainly due to their high dependency on imports of food and agricultural inputs and vulnerability to global food price shocks.

Several areas have been affected by rainfall deficits and high temperatures, including northern parts of Madagascar, Mozambique and Namibia, and southern areas of Angola and Zimbabwe, curtailing yield prospects.

Furthermore, the impact of tropical storms and cyclone Freddy in February 2023, which caused flooding in Madagascar and Mozambique, was expected to result in crop damage.