Facts and figures

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2008 price spike

During the 2008 food price spike, general food cupboard items, such as tinned foods, increased in price by 15% and 7 items in a BBC survey by more than 40%. For example, a pack of four croissants was 47.4% more expensive and a 125g packet of ham up by 45.4% (ref 1).

Another survey showed that over a year the price of fruit and vegetables increased by up to 30% at leading supermarket chains in the UK (ref 1).

In the 12 months to March 2008, the price of wheat rose by 130%, soya by 87% and rice by 74% (ref 1, ref 2).

The 2008 food price spike caused riots or civil unrest in a number of countries, including Yemen, Somalia, Senegal, Pakistan, Mozambique, Indonesia, India, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Bangladesh (ref 2, ref 6).

Food price riots led to the fall of the government of Haiti. At a special session, 16 of 17 senators voted against Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis after a week or rioting had left at least 5 dead, including a Nigerian UN peacekeeper (ref 4).

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) stated that the food crisis had thrown an additional 75M people into hunger and poverty in 2007 (ref 5).

The food price spike in 2008 came on the back of previous increases – 2008 prices were 13% higher than they were in August 2007 and 60% higher than in August 2006. In 2008, 36 countries sent out appeals for food aid because of high local high prices, crop failures or conflict (ref 2, ref 6).

Global stocks of some staple foods have declined, partly as a result of policies to reduce ‘food mountains’, which has also contributed to food price increases (ref 8).

Record harvests were recorded (and predicted) in 2008. This, along with the rapid fall in the price of oil helped cool price rises. The FAO estimated that crop yields would be 4.9% higher in 2008 at a record 2,232M tonnes (ref 5).

Throughout the crisis, the World Food Programme moved to help break the cycle of hunger at its root by spending $1.1Bn purchasing food to help 75M people in 60 nations, almost twice the spending of the previous year. But UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned up to $20Bn a year was needed to alleviate the crisis (ref 3, ref 6)

World

More people die each year from hunger and malnutrition than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined (ref 18).

The UN's annual report on global food security confirms that more than one billion people – a sixth of the world's population – are undernourished (ref 6, ref 7, ref 8).

Globally, it’s estimated that there are a billion overweight people (the same number as undernourished), 300M of them obese (ref 17).

The world’s population is projected to increase from 6 to 9Bn by 2050 – including Africa’s population to double from 1 to 2Bn – the only continent that is not self-sufficient in food production (ref 8).

Demand for food is projected to increase by 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2050 (ref 3).

But while demand for food is rising, the amount of land suitable for food production is likely to decrease – mainly through pressures from other uses, and climate change, although the extent is disputed (ref 8).

However, as well as threats to production, change in the environment will offer new opportunities by extending the geographic range of some crops (ref 8).  

Farming accounts for 70% of the world’s use of fresh water that is extracted globally for human use (ref 8, ref 9).

Agriculture is estimated to account for 10-12% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (land-use changes, such as deforestation for farming, adds much more) (ref 11, ref 20).

Poor people in the developing world can spend from 50-80% of their income on food (ref 11).

The World Bank estimates that cereal production needs to increase by 50% and meat production by 85% between 2000 and 2030 to meet demand (ref 11, ref 19).

The G8 group of industrialised nations committed funding of $20Bn over 3 years to the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (ASIF) in July 2009; the UK contributes $1.8Bn (in addition to the UK’s spending on humanitarian aid) (ref 22).

It takes 7-10kg of grain to produce 1kg of meat, and meat consumption is rising in the most populous nations (ref 11).

In South America, the 2008 wheat production was halved by drought in Argentina, and persistent dry weather continued to adversely affect prospects for the 2009 coarse grain harvest in the region (ref 24).

As of February 2009, food crises persisted in 32 countries around the world. The situation is of particular concern in the Gaza Strip, Kenya, Somalia and Zimbabwe, where the food security situation is precarious following drought-reduced crops, civil disturbance and/or economic crisis (ref 24).

Estimates vary, but in the developing world up to 37% of food harvested can be lost before it is consumed owing to insufficient processing, storage and transport. Figures for rice losses include 5-23% in China and 10-25% in Vietnam (ref 8, ref 10).

A review of food waste in the US calculated that 43Bn kg of food, just over a quarter of the amount available to consume, was lost from retailing onwards (ref 10).

Food security in FAO/BBC graphs (external)

UK

Production (and consumption)

The UK produces 73% of ‘indigenous-type foods’, and is about 60% self-sufficient when exports and local consumption are set against production (ref 8, ref 11).

Food manufacturing is the UK’s single largest manufacturing sector. The food and drink supply chain is a major part of the UK economy, accounting for 7% of GDP, employing 3.7M people, and generating £80Bn per year (ref 11).

The UK exported £12Bn of food and drink in 2007 (ref 15).

Although over 10,000 new products are introduced each year, food retailing is highly aggregated and two thirds of sales go to just 4 retailers (ref 11).

The average UK household now devotes ~9% of its expenditure on food, down from 16% in 1984 (and much more before that) (ref 11).

But the poorest 10% of households saw 15% of their expenditure on food in 2005-06, a figure that was just 7% for the richest 10%. This is because they spend proportionately more on milk, eggs and bread – staples that are hard hit by food price rises (ref 11, ref 17).

Defra and the industry invest £164M in research and development on agriculture each year (ref 15).

The UK’s livestock farmers are already reliant on soya imports (including GM) from Argentina and Brazil (ref 21).

Waste

UK consumers spend an average of £420 per household on food each year that they then throw away, or 4.1M tonnes of food nationally (ref 11, ref 13, ref 14).

Reviewing ‘Best Before’ labelling could save more than 370,000 tonnes per year (ref 15).

Eliminating household food waste would deliver GHG benefits equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road – a reduction of 18M tonnes of CO2 (ref 11).

Every day we bin 4.4M apples, 5.1M potatoes, 2.8M tomatoes and 1.6M bananas. 2009 Wrap data suggests £12Bn worth is binned every year in the UK, or around £680 for the average family when drinks and liquid food is included (ref 11, ref 12, ref 23).

Health

765,000 cases of food poisoning occur in the UK every year (ref 8).

An estimated 70,000 food deaths could be avoided each year in UK if diets matched nutritional guidelines. Reaching the 5-a-day fruit-and-vegetable target could save around 42,000 deaths in the UK each year (ref 11).

Nearly a quarter of adults and 10% of children are classed as obese in the UK. Diet related to ill health costs the NHS £8Bn per year and obesity alone is estimated to cost the wider economy £15.8Bn. (Foresight, the UK Government’s future-oriented stakeholder group, suggests the figure could be £50B by 2050). (ref 11, ref 21).

Environment

18% of UK GHG emissions are related to food production and consumption. Half of this comes from farms, mostly methane from livestock and nitrous oxide from fertiliser (ref 11, ref 12).

A national survey in 2007 revealed that 28% of people – mostly elderly – admitted to hospital and care homes in the UK were malnourished (ref 11).

Household purchases of fruits and vegetables have increased from 3 to 3.9 portions per day from 1974 to 2006 (ref 21).

In the UK, 60% of nitrates, 25% of phosphorus and 70% of sediments polluting water bodies come from farms (ref 14).

In 2005, UK meat, milk and eggs had a market value of around £8Bn, and were produced from more than 150,000 farm businesses producing 10, 35, 6 and 800M cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, respectively (ref 25).

The overall costs of animal diseases to the UK over the past 15 years may have exceeded £15Bn through impact on production losses and implementation of control strategies (ref 25).

References

  1. Cost of food: global roundup
  2. BBC Special Report: the cost of food
  3. OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018
  4. Haiti's government falls after food riots
  5. Q&A: World food prices
  6. UN World Food Programme 2009 (PDF)
  7. Global hunger worsening, warns UN
  8. BBSRC Future directions in research relating to food security
  9. Water wars, Eureka #2, The Times
  10. Disappearing Food: How big are postharvest losses? (PDF)
  11. Food Matters: Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century
  12. Office for National Statistics (ONS)
  13. WRAP – Down the drain (PDF)
  14. WRAP – Household food and drink waste in the UK
  15. DEFRA – The Future of our Farming
  16. ONS Family spending (PDF)
  17. WHO Global Strategy Diet & Physical Activity
  18. UN World Food Programme Winning the War on Hunger
  19. World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development
  20. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Forth Assessment Report
  21. Food matters: one year on (PDF)
  22. G8 2009 Summit statement on food security (PDF)
  23. Thriving trade in out-of-date best-before foods
  24. FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation, No 1 February 2009 (PDF)
  25. Economic and Social Impact of Science at the Institute for Animal Health (PDF)

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