Mali’s rural-urban gap in food security vanished amid the coronavirus pandemic (ERS)

USDA’s ERS published an article on the 2020 International Food Security Assessment (IFSA) published by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) highlights an increase in food insecurity around the world associated with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Recent updates to the IFSA report suggest the number of food-insecure people increased by 160 million in 2020, corresponding with a 21 percent increase in the share of the global population who are food insecure amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These projections align well with comparable estimates reported by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization and IFPRI, two leading authorities on international food security. However, these projections estimate only global, regional, or country averages and therefore do not illuminate local-level changes in food security.