GHI2011
The 2011 GHI report focuses particular attention on the issue of food price spikes and volatility, which have played a large role in the global food crises of 2007–08 and 2010–11. Many poor people already spend large shares of their incomes on food, and surges in food prices leave them unable to pay for the food, healthcare, housing, education, and other goods and services they need. In this report, an IFPRI researcher describes the factors that have contributed to the increasing and more volatile food prices of recent years and their effects on poor people in developing countries. Taming food price spikes and volatility will require that we understand the causes and address them appropriately.
Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe authors provide on-the-ground perspectives on the negative impacts of food price increases on poor people in Kenya and Tajikistan and describe the work of their organizations in helping to alleviate these impacts. Based on these research findings and experiences in the field, IFPRI, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe propose actions to help prevent and mitigate the effects of high and volatile food prices and increase the resilience of communities, countries, and regions.
Recent events in the Horn of Africa remind us of an enduring truth: weather disasters and economic shocks will come, and they will strike the poor and the hungry hardest. But we have already learned a great deal about how to reduce vulnerability and how to work with people and institutions to effectively tackle poverty. It is time to apply this knowledge on a scale that will overcome hunger for all people.
