The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022: Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations, released the 22nd edition of its annual publication The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World on July 6, 2022. The first edition of this report was published in 1999. It has been co-published by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO).  The report provides the most recent information on the status of global food security and nutrition. It presents revised estimates on the costs of a healthy diet and its affordability. The report also presents policy recommendations “to make healthy diets more affordable.” This, it suggests, can be done primarily by bringing down the price of food that is nutritious and promoting policies which encourage their production.  This 260-page document is divided into five chapters: Introduction (Chapter 1); Food Security and nutrition around the world (Chapter 2); Food and agricultural policy support in the world: How much does it cost and affect diets? (Chapter 3); Potential options to repurpose policy support to food and agriculture for improving affordability of a healthy diet (Chapter 4); and Conclusion (Chapter 5).