Sikandra Kurdi POLICY SEMINAR Retail food prices at the country level and implications for food security How are rising food prices, further aggravated by the invasion of Ukraine, being transmitted at the country level? MAR 29, 2022 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT

1. Food Security in Yemen
Amid Rising Wheat Prices
Sikandra Kurdi, Clemens Breisinger, Joseph Glauber,
and David Laborde
International Food Policy Research Institute
March 29, 2022

2. Yemen is highly dependent on wheat imports
• Wheat import dependence growing
since 1970s
• Civil war since 2015 has left
country with very unbalanced trade
• 46% of calories from wheat
with Ukraine and Russia as
major source

3. Food insecurity is extremely high and will increase
▪ Wheat and wheat products represent
a substantial share of calories (71%)
and budgets (25%) for poor
households
▪ Conflict has increased reliance on
wheat as cheapest calorie source as
household income falls
▪ All areas of the country are classified
as crisis or emergency by IPC with
potential for famine to emerge if
current trends continue

4. Role of the humanitarian response
▪ More than half of Yemeni
households receive some form
of food aid
▪ 12% of cereal imports in
Yemen in the form of
humanitarian food aid by WFP
and others
▪ Funding for UN appeal in
March 2022 pledging event
30% less than in 2021 in spite
of higher need

5. Looking to the future
▪ Continuing the trend towards greater use of cash rather than in-
kind transfers may reduce costs and promote more diverse diets
o Will need ability to adjusted for inflation and loss of value of
YER
▪ Long-term solution to high import dependence is supporting local
agricultural production
o Systems such as rainwater harvesting and use of solar power
for resilience to fuel price and supply shocks
▪ Political solution to end the conflict is essential for recovery