Food Crisis

Food Crisis Facts & Figures

1.1 billion People were living on less than $1 a day and 923 million were undernourished, even before the food, fuel and financial crises.

Food prices remain volatile. Local food prices in many countries haven’t come down, although international food prices have fallen.

What the World Bank Is Doing(Updated January 13, 2011)



In response to the severity of the food crisis and the need for prompt action, the World Bank Group set up the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) in May 2008 to provide immediate relief to countries hard hit by food high prices. The Bank response has been articulated in coordination with the United Nations’ High-Level Task Force on food security.



The World Bank Group increased the GFRP to $2 billion in April 2009 to provide immediate relief to countries hard hit by food high prices. GFRP was created in May 2008 to reduce the threat high food prices and rising agricultural production and marketing costs pose to the livelihoods of the world’s poor. The expedited processing of GFRP projects, up to an initial ceiling of $1.2billion, helped speed response.

On April 16, 2009, the Board endorsed a rise in the ceiling from $1.2 billion to $2 billion, but shortened the use of expedited processing by one year to June 30, 2010. In light of the recent rise in food prices again from June 2010, the Board reinstated the initial time period for the use of expedited processing to June 2011. The money is used to feed poor children and other vulnerable groups, provide for nutritional supplements to pregnant women, lactating mothers, infants and small children, to meet additional expenses of food imports or to buy seeds for the new season.

• Grant funding has also been made available through several external-funded trust funds in support of the full range of interventions available under the GFRP. A Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) has received contributions of AUD 50 million from the Australian government, €80 million from the government of Spain, 3 billion Korean Won from the Republic of Korea, CAD 30 million from the government of Canada, and $0.15 million from International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The Russian Federation has also allocated $15 million for the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, through the Russia Food Price Crisis Rapid Response Trust Fund, which became operational in April 2009. The European Commission has allocated has allocated €111.8 million to support operations in 10 countries. Together the three Trust Funds amount to about $352 million equivalent.