Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Final report on the implementation of the EU Food Facility

In 2008, the long-term trend of decreasing food prices reversed with a sharp rise of staple food prices. As a consequence, more than 100 million people in developing countries plunged into hunger. High and volatile food prices worsened the food insecurity situation, particularly for the most vulnerable people, and contributed to food riots in several countries.

During the G8 Summit in July 2008, the Commission announced its intention for a €1 billion Food Facility instrument to react on a large scale to the effects of the food price crisis, indeed the EU response through the existing instruments required to be scaled up to address the needs resulting from such an economic shock. On 16 December 2008, the Food Facility ('Facility for a rapid response to soaring and volatile food prices in developing countries') was established.

The EU Food Facility constituted the first major financial response to the food crisis and helped to strengthen international coordination in the UN and the G8. For its most part, the Food Facility added to the $3.9 billion contribution made by the Commission to the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI). The AFSI was launched by G8 leaders on July 2009 and amounts $22 billion in support of sustainable agriculture and food security in developing countries over three years. Following up on these commitments, more recently the EU has launched two new initiatives to respond to the massive food crises that have hit the Horn of Africa and the Sahel (SHARE and AGIR Sahel). Moreover, the Commission has adopted a new policy framework to strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable people and communities to future crises.

Covering a period of three years (2009-2011), the EU Food Facility primarily addressed the period between emergency aid and medium-to-long term development assistance. The objectives were to:
- encourage a positive supply response from the agricultural sector in target countries and regions,
- mitigate the negative effects of volatile food prices on local populations in line with global food security objectives, including UN standards for nutritional requirements; and,
- strengthen the productive capacities and the governance of the agricultural sector to enhance the sustainability of interventions.

In line with these objectives, three categories of measures were eligible for financing: measures to improve access to agricultural inputs and services, safety net measures, and other small-scale measures aiming at increasing production based on country needs.

This report provides information on the various implementation measures taken, the outcomes and likely impact, and the key lessons learned and recommendations in order to improve the current and future EU food security programmes. It is accompanied by a Staff Working Document (SWD), which provides more detail on measures taken and their short-term impact.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)194: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:194:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2013)107: Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the report http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2013:107:FIN

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