6 The Status and Challenges of Food Security in Europe and Central Asia

Purpose This chapter analyzes and discusses the food insecurity and malnutrition situation in Europe and Central Asia (ECA), with a strong focus on the Caucasus and Central Asian countries. Methodology/approach Authors use descriptive statistics to examine macro-level, sectoral-level, and household-level data from national and international sources to review production, trade, and consumption of food and agricultural products in the selected countries. Overall trends in economic growth and poverty reduction, constraints and bottlenecks in agricultural productivity growth, as well as policies that shape food security in the ECA region are analyzed. Findings While the countries that constitute the focus of this chapter have shown significant progress in alleviating food insecurity and extreme poverty, many risk factors remain, such as inadequate micronutrient intake, sub-optimal quality diets, growing obesity rates, and high dependence on food imports in a number of the ECA countries. Practical implications Based on the assessment of the food security situation in the ECA countries, the authors discuss government actions, including those emanating from various global initiatives, being implemented to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition.