Just how precarious the global food availability situation continues to grow is reflected in the contents of the latest Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities whilst assessing the status of food availability in countries around the world.
While announcing that global food prices have risen by 2.7% between October and November this year, the FAO used its Quarterly Crop Prospectus and Food Situation Report to cite 42 countries which it says are in need of external assistance for food. Between September and October this year Zambia, stricken by drought conditions and record-high staple food prices, has been added to the list, which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Uganda, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe, which it says are experiencing food availability challenges.
