2.10 Incidence of Food Insecurity across Sub-Saharan African Households

Households that were worried about food security also had at least one member who was forced to skip at least one meal. In five of the African countries surveyed (Chad, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin, and Tanzania), more than half of the households had a member who skipped at least one meal. That proportion was about one-third of the households in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and one-quarter of the households in Senegal and South Africa (figure 2.10). Restrictions on food consumption were acute for a larger share of households, with about 50 percent of households having at least one member going at least one whole day without eating in Chad. Between 20 and 30 percent of households reported having a member who went without eating for a day in Kenya, Benin, Tanzania, and Mozambique (figure 2.10).

Recent evidence from high-frequency phone surveys corroborates the worsening of food insecurity across households in selected countries in the region (Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso) after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.53 There has been a significant transition from food security to insecurity, as 43 percent of households that were not facing severe food insecurity in 2018 were estimated to be severely food insecure in January 2020—with food insecurity increasing at a faster pace among rural households than urban ones.54 Restrictions in food consumption was a lever commonly used by many households to cope with the economic fallout from the pandemic, with the more vulnerable households being more disproportionately affected.55 Note that the situation could be worse than the high-frequency phone surveys reveal, as they do not represent the poorest households without phone access.

FIGURE 2.10: Incidence of Food Insecurity across Sub-Saharan African Households

Benin Burkina Faso Chad Côte d'Ivoire Gabon Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Mali Mozambique Niger São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal South Africa Tanzania

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Percent of households Worried Skipped Whole Day

Source: International Household Survey Network, various years. Note: The figure depicts the incidence of households with at least one member worried about food, skipping a meal, or going a whole day without eating in the 12 months prior to the interview. Fear of food insecurity has increased across Sub-Saharan Africa.

53 Amankwah and Gourlay (2021) also use the Food Insecurity Experience Scale questionnaire module for reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals to estimate the overall food insecurity rates for both moderate and severe food insecurity among the adult population. 54 Amankwah and Gourlay (2021); Rudin-Rush et al. (2022). 55 In July 2020, two-thirds of Nigerian households reduced food consumption in response to a variety of shocks. The same was true for 9 percent of households in Malawi and 16 percent of households in Uganda.

2.3 POLICY DISCUSSION

Much has been said, written, and advocated about alleviating the food security crisis in the region over the past decades. The reality is that solving this equation is complex, and even more so amid climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and current food and energy crises. Magical silver bullet(s) do not exist. Yet evidence from other continents and the region have demonstrated that a series of emergency, short-term measures combined with medium- to long-term measures can altogether build resilience in agriculture and food systems. In this light, the following policy dimensions stand out as the most realistic and efficient paths within the current environment.

In the short term, social safety nets play an important role of protecting the most vulnerable people through a series of targeted cash or in-kind transfers during periods of heightened food insecurity. Beyond providing a protective floor, safety nets can be used to foster human capital accumulation and agricultural production (cash transfer “plus” programs) as well as provide job opportunities (through labor market programs and temporary wage subsidies paid to employers).

Over the medium- to long-term, building resilience in agriculture and food systems requires measures that boost productivity in agriculture and accelerate the structural transformation process.

· In an environment with limited fiscal space, there is a need for policies that improve the quality of spending. Hence, reallocating government funds to investments that have high value (technology generation and diffusion, soil conservation and irrigation infrastructure, climate change adaptation, and market connectivity) and repurposing market-distorting policies is critical for productivity-enhancing growth.

· Fostering trade and regional integration can help African countries increase their resilience to shocks affecting global agri-food systems. Leveraging regional trade agreements and the

AfCFTA can help coordinate investment and production at the regional level—thus fostering participation in regional value chains. A more holistic approach to regional integration and cooperation may also include transborder natural resource management, knowledge and innovation dissemination, weather and market information, and so on.

· The development and modernization of midstream segments of agri-food value chains (for example, processing, storage, transport, wholesale, retail, and food service, among others) is essential to enable farmers to access (domestic and global) higher value markets while meeting higher standards in their products. It creates opportunities for productive inclusion and the incorporation of additional rural youth.

Finally, the adoption of digital technologies by governments can increase the efficiency of all these policies. Digital technologies play an important role in improving the targeting of social safety nets through (digital) registries of beneficiaries and platforms for electronic payments. They also support the improvement of public investment management systems, targeting of