Cindy Holleman POLICY SEMINAR Are healthy diets affordable? Using new data on retail prices and diet costs to guide agricultural and food policy Co-organized by IFPRI, Tufts University, the World Bank, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) JUL 15, 2022 - 10:00 TO 11:30AM EDT

1. The cost and affordability
of a healthy diet around the world
UN global monitoring and policy analysis
to inform agrifood systems transformation
Cindy F. Holleman
Senior Economist and Editor of the SOFI Report
Agrifood Economics Division (ESA)
Economic and Social Development Stream
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Washington, DC | July 15, 2022

2. Cost and affordability of a healthy diet: indicators to understand economic access to
nutritious foods
 Presented annually in The State of Food
Security and Nutrition in the World report
since 2020, joining other regularly
monitored food security and nutrition
indicators
 Full data series available in FAOSTAT
by the end of 2022
• Herforth, A., Bai, Y., Venkat, A., Mahrt, K., Ebel, A. & Masters, W.A. 2020. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb2431en
• Herforth, A., Venkat, A., Bai, Y., Costlow, L., Holleman, C. & Masters, W.A. (forthcoming, August 2022).

3. Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Reports:
Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Near East
and North Africa

4. Valuation of the health and climate change benefits to healthy diets
Adoption of healthy diets that include sustainability considerations would reduce
the social cost of GHG emissions by 41–74% in 2030
• Springman, M., 2020,
https://www.fao.org/agrifood-
economics/publications/detail/
en/c/1330798/

5. Policies and incentives
towards nutrition-sensitive
investment
Policy across agrifood
supply chains to enhance
efficiencies
Implement efficient
international and internal trade
and marketing mechanisms
Nutrition-sensitive social
protection
Consumer oriented policies
for behavioural change
Pursue dietary patterns with
low impact on health and the
environment
THE DOMAINS OF POLICY
OPTIONS AND
INVESTMENTS FOR
TRANSFORMATION
We need to transform agrifood systems to reduce the cost of nutritious food and
increase affordability of healthy diets

6. Major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition around the world
We are not on track to ending
hunger, food insecurity and
malnutrition – major drivers and
underlying factors
Countries affected by the
major drivers exhibit the
highest percentage of the
population who cannot
afford a healthy diet

7. • Almost 3.1 billion people
could not afford a healthy
diet in 2020.
• This is 112 million more than
in 2019, reflecting the
inflation in consumer food
prices stemming from the
economic impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic and the
measures put in place to
contain it.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet

8. Global impact of repurposing 3 types of support to healthy diets, 2030 (change with respect to the baseline)
Repurposing agricultural support can make healthy diets more affordable
FAO ESA Working Paper Series: Background
Papers to SOFI 2022 (forthcoming, 2022)
• Glauber, J. and Laborde, D.
• Sánchez, M. V. and Cicowiez, M.
-0.08
0.64
0
0.03
-0.06
-0.98
-0.05
0.81
-0.04
-0.94
0.27
1.50
-0.05
0.77
-0.06
-3.74
-0.20
-0.18
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2
PREVALENCE OF UNDERNOURISHMENT
AFFORDABILITY OF HEALTHY DIET
EXTREME POVERTY
FARM INCOME
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
GHG EMISSIONS
FISCAL SUBSIDIES TO CONSUMERS FISCAL SUBSIDIES TO PRODUCERS PRICE INCENTIVES

9. Thank you