World Bank - Food Security Update - 16/05/2025

Highlights:

• Conflict and insecurity, weather extremes, and economic shocks continue to drive acute food insecurity. According to the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), acute hunger has grown in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year. Around 295 million people are now facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with the most people experiencing the most severe forms of acute food insecurity (IPC/CH5) and famine living in countries affected by conflicts.
• According to a special IPC snapshot published on May 12, the entire population of Gaza is now facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people (one in five) facing starvation. This marks a significant deterioration compared to the previous IPC analysis (released in October 2024) and the already dire conditions detected between 1 April - 10 May 2025.
• The April 2025 Commodity Markets Outlook reports that global commodity prices fell sharply in early April, ending a period of relative stability. Since the last update, agricultural and export price indices closed 2 percent and 5 percent higher, respectively, and the cereal price index closed 5 percent lower. The May 2025 AMIS Market Monitor reports that stable global markets for wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans, with adequate supplies and no short-term shortages expected.
• A new report titled Strengthening Strategic Grain Reserves to Enhance Food Security, jointly published by the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), offers lessons learned from the management of strategic grain reserves (SGRs)—government-managed stockpiles of staple grains, providing guiding principles for policymakers and development practitioners. The findings are published in a blog post.