The Human Costs of the Food Crisis: How Price Spikes are Wreaking Havoc Across the Globe

ActionAid’s new research finds that as the world faces an unprecedented cost of living crisis, local communities in the Global South are dealing with the consequences of severe price rises in food, fuel, and fertilizer, with tragic human impacts.

Even before the invasion of Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a steep increase in global food insecurity – in 2020 alone, the rate of food insecurity was greater than the previous five years combined. The invasion of Ukraine resulted in sharp rises of food, fuel, and fertilizer prices as the war impacted supplies from both Russia and Ukraine, which are among the top exporters of these products.1 In 2022, when war broke out in Ukraine, ActionAid undertook research in local communities in 13 of the countries most impacted by the crisis in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. This research, released in May 2022 in the report “Doubly Devastating,” revealed that local communities were paying double, triple, or even close to four times what they had been paying for food, fuel, and fertilizer before the war began.

Now, one year after the release of “Doubly Devastating,” ActionAid is releasing new and more detailed research into the extent of continued price rises and their subsequent impacts on human lives. This detailed survey of over 1,000 people digs deeper into the issue of rising prices and social consequences in 14 countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The new research shows that the poorest people, especially women and girls, are facing the brunt of skyrocketing food, fuel, and fertilizer prices.