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Background: This study assessed staple food price volatility, household food consumption scores (FCS), poor household food consumption status and its association with socio-economic inequalities during enforcing and partial lifting of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions in slum and non-slum households (HHs) of Nansana municipality, Uganda. Methods: Repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted during enforcing and partial lifting of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. A total of 205 slum and 200 non-slum HHs were selected for the study. Telephone based interviews with HH heads were used to collect data on socio-economic factors. Data for FCS was collected using the World Food Programme FCS method. Prices for staple foods were collected by face-to-face interviews with food vendors from the local market. Mean staple food price differences before COVID-19 lockdown, during enforcing, and partial lifting of lockdown was tested by Analysis of variance with repeated measures. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between socio-economic variables and poor food consumption status. A statistical test was considered significant at p < 0.05. Results: Mean staple food prices were significantly higher during enforcing COVID-19 total lockdown restrictions compared to either 1 week before lockdown or partial lifting of lockdown (p < 0.05). Mean FCS for staple cereals and legumes were significantly higher in slum HHs during COVID-19 lockdown compared to when the lockdown was partially lifted (p < 0.05). In slum HHs, the prevalence of poor food consumption status was significantly higher during partial lifting (55.1%) compared to total lockdown of COVID-19 (15.1%), p < 0.05. Among slum HHs during lockdown restrictions, food aid distribution was negatively associated with poor food consumption status (AOR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1–0.6), whilst being a daily wage earner was positively associated with poor food consumption status (AOR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.1–0.6). During partial lifting of COVID-19 lockdown in slum HHs, poor food consumption status was positively associated with female headed HHs (AOR: 1.2, 95%CI: 1.1–1.6), daily wage earners (AOR: 3.2, 95% CI: 2.6–3.8), unemployment (AOR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.5–2.1) and tenants (AOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.8–3.5). Female headed HHs, daily wage earners and tenants were positively associated with poor food consumption status either during enforcing or partial lifting of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in non-slum HHs. Conclusion: Staple food prices increased during enforcing either the COVID-19 lockdown or partial lifting of the lockdown compared to before the lockdown. During the lockdown, food consumption improved in slum HHs that received food aid compared to those slum HHs that did not receive it. Household heads who were females, daily wage earners, unemployed, and tenants were at risk of poor food consumption status either in slum or non-slum, and therefore needed some form of food assistance either during enforcing or partial lifting of the lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses extensive animal poaching that endangers the existence of several African species. Topics include the Southern White Rhinoceros numbers between 17,212 – 18,915, with the majority in South Africa, and the Black Rhinoceros only numbering between 5,366 and 5,627, prime example of a notable contrast on the African continent, is in the food space.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and countrywide lockdown could negatively impact household food insecurity among low-income households. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of household food insecurity and its influencing factors among low-income people in Bangladesh during the lockdown of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted through face-to-face interviews from 500 low-income households during the countrywide COVID-19 lockdown. A pretested, structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect socioeconomic characteristics, household income conditions, and food accessibility. Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) were used to measure food insecurity. Multinomial logistic regression models were estimated to evaluate and predict risk factors that influence food insecurity. Results: The study found that above 67% of households was mild-to-moderate food insecure while 23% experienced severe food insecurity. Significantly, 88%, 97.4%, and 93.4% of the households had anxiety and uncertainty, inadequate quality, and inadequate quantity of food, respectively. The regression analysis revealed the age 36–50 years (RRR: 4.86; 95% CI: 2.31–7.44, RRR: 4.16; 95% CI: 2.25–6.10) and monthly income <58.3 USD (RRR: 3.04; 95% CI: 1.12–5.14, RRR: 3.26; 95% CI: 1.79–4.71) were significantly associated with food insecurity (p <0.001). Likewise, less-income (RRR: 3.87; 95% CI: 1.37–6.46, RRR: 2.99; 95% CI: 1.16–4.83), increase in food prices (RRR: 1.29; 95% CI: 0.32–2.33, RRR: 1.08; 95% CI: 0.05–1.12), and those who did not have same type of earning as before during the COVID-19 lockdown (RRR: 3.41; 95% CI: 1.33–5.62, RRR: 2.60; 95% CI: 0.99–4.24) were potential risk factor for MMFI and FI. Conclusion: This study found that households become more susceptible to food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown period. Based on the findings, we suggest some essential food policies and adequate food assistance to mitigate these negative consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political-military events from 1940-1941 (territorial concessions and a dictatorial regime installing in Romania) had serious consequences on Timișoara Mayoralty too; it had to work in the circumstances of a new legislation characterized by an excessive centralization. Once with World War II and Romania entering the international conflagration after, the budget of Timișoara Mayoralty was a tight one in 1941, a smaller one than the previous year while the municipality had to back the upkeep of cultural and university institutions coming here from Cluj as the National Theater and Romanian Opera, Faculty of Science of King Ferdinand I University, School for Electromechanicical Engineering, etc. Important amounts were at the same time distributed both for upkeep the refugees (pupils and students among them) from the lost territories in Transylvania and the Dobrudja, and the German soldiers who set in Timișoara following the agreements between the governments of Romania and Germany. These extra expenses made the Municipality distribute decreased funds for the local cultural institutions like The Banat Museum or the Town Library, but also for other activities. The communal Technical Service built in 1941 new streets, undertook works of leveling and maintenance of some public buildings; the Horticultural Service made new plantation using exclusively saplings from its own nursery. The Mayoralty gave much prominence to a new building Regulations in accordance with trade and industry needs of development and the geographic situation of Timișoara. Unfortunately, the works stipulated by that project couldn't be started for lacking of specialists who were drafted at that time. It was a factor to influence also the other departments of the Mayoralty and the level of its works. It comes out in 1941 that the town cleaning wasn't satisfactory for lacking the citizens' civic culture, garbage baskets, workers in the field, or mechanical outfits that couldn't have been bought in that money crisis. For the units the Mayoralty still had, part of them made the trade public Administration --Economic settlements of Timișoara City (S.E. T.); they also passed though the same crisis with the tight budget, drafted personnel, and the raw material rising in the price of, etc. In spite of all, there were units to have benefits at the end of the year: the public cinema houses (enlarged after Select cinema reopening and Scala cinema buying), Slaughter-house, Ice Fabric, Popular watering places, Funeral furnishers, and the Sand quarry. The communal dairy registered a special situation, by confronting with a major crisis due to old machineries lack of money to invest in, and difficulties in collecting milk from the rural localities. The Mayoralty and public Administration decided to lease the unit in order to go on with the inhabitants (poor people especially) and social institution providing with milk and dairy produce; the unit was leased in the summer of 1941 after difficult talks. We might note that the decisional factors backed both the interests of the unit and the Mayoralty implicitly, and of the inhabitants (the poor ones mainly) and social institutions during those talks. Besides of evident difficulties, the Mayoralty succeeded to allot important funds for poor people supporting with money, food and clothes. The leaders of the Mayoralty had also to distribute dwellings to the refugees, and offered them free food up to their locative situations setting. Given Timișoara Mayoralty efforts, such a problem was almost solved in 1941, but the poor refugees were still given money, clothes, food, etc. The local cultural institutions and the ones that took refuge in Timișoara were given financial support (The National Theatre and Romanian Opera from Cluj were gratis given the building of the communal Theater to work there), and also were the pre-university, university and vocational schools. We might gather that Timișoara Mayoralty succeeded to carry out in a large measure of its obligations in spite of that difficult situation, and maintained so Timișoara among the important towns in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the entire 18th century and during the first part of the next one Transylvania was confronted with repeated food crises (shortages due to poor crops and yields, weather conditions, sometimes with intervals of famine, etc.). The difficulties in purchasing food were frequently amplified by the high prices at which food was sold, which made life difficult for the poor people. The reaction of a part of the inhabitants of the Transylvanian area to this situation was that of leaving the province (temporarily or permanently) in search of places that could ensure their livelihood. Most left for Moldavia and the Wallachia, but there were cases of crossings to the Hungarian plains, to the Russian area, etc. There were situations in which their emigration was determined only by the scarcity or lack of available food. In many others, the triggering factors of the emigration trend were more complex, as religious, social, economic and other factors, along with the food shortages, combined to increase the phenomenon. Our study aims to analyse the relationship between the food crises in this area and the emigration trend, making an inventory of them and outlining how the authorities, guided by populist principles, related to this challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once a rare sight, food banks are fast becoming an established feature of Britain's social security system, their number having increased from around a hundred in 2010 to over two thousand at present. In 2017, as many as 1.2 million emergency food parcels were given out to individuals and families, with demand continuing to grow. The unprecedented dependence of British households on donated food is a disturbing phenomenon raising many questions not only about the government's welfare policies but also about poverty and the poor themselves. Using framing analysis, this paper aims to explore the ways in which food bank users are portrayed in the public sphere, with special emphasis on media coverage and political discourse across the left-right spectrum. The competing depictions of food bank users are shown as a continuation of the age-old debate on the causes of poverty and its understanding as either individual or systemic failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent findings by researchers such as Caplovitz [2] and Sturdivant [5] have indicated that the poor pay more. Other studies, such as that by Goodman [3] and the Bureau of Labor Statistics [6], have indicated that the poor may not pay more. Similarly, this article attacks one of the major issues with which Americans are currently concerned, i.e., Do the poor pay more? The Caplovitz and Sturdivant studies focus on durable goods prices. The Goodman and BLS studies are primarily about food prices. This study resembles the last in that it investigates the cost of food. However, although each of the studies just cited represents an investigation of a rather limited selection of items (which in one case could have distorted the findings), the selection priced here is more comprehensive. The following are two major and identifiable factors that might be directly related to price discrepancies evident in the data: (1) insurance rates and (2) pilferage. This study once again points to the conclusion that the poor pay more. Although theoretically the hypothesis was not disproven (i.e., the statistic for all foods combined did not indicate that ghetto dwellers paid more than nonghetto dwellers), analysis by product group with a quality factor considered highlighted the inappropriateness of conclusions drawn from aggregate comparisons. The degree to which ghetto dwellers pay more, the market basket used to determine relative costs, the reasons for price differentials, and consumer shopping behavior should be considered in evaluating the findings. This study indicates that the additional amount paid for food by Watts ghetto dwellers does not appear to be as great as that indicated for durable items by other researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I (worldbank.org 28/6) i B Djibouti b : The WB has approved an IDA grant of $30m for the Social Protection Emergency Crisis Response Project will provide safety net transfers to households adversely affected by the multiple crises facing the country and strengthen social protection and community resilience mechanisms to respond to future crises. For Mauritania, the additional financing consists of a $42m equivalent credit from the IDA, and for Niger, it is a $25m equivalent credit and a $25m equivalent grant from the Crisis Response Window Early Response Financing (CRW-ERF). B DR Congo: b The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$250m development policy operation for foundational economic governance reforms and $500m to strengthen transport and connectivity. I (worldbank.org 17/6) i B Somalia b : The WB has approved $143m in IDA financing to help vulnerable Somalis overcome the escalating drought and food insecurity conditions across the country. [Extracted from the article]

The purpose of this exploratory, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between the price and availability of food products with and without trans fatty acids in food stores near elementary schools located in low- and medium-income neighborhoods of a Brazilian city. The supply of products containing trans fatty acids was higher in both regions, and these products were also cheaper. It is noteworthy that this availability may influence food choices and, consequently, the health status of children and adolescents, since this population is more likely to buy less-healthy foods when these are more available, accessible, and financially attractive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers world news briefs related to agriculture from 2010 to 2012. Topics discussed include the effect of free trade among farmers in the U.S., the impact of land acquisitions for millions of poor people in Africa, and the 8% increase of global food prices from December 2011 to March 2012 according to the World Bank Group's Food Price Watch.

This article investigates the impact of rising wheat prices on household food security in Afghanistan. Exploiting a unique nationally-representative household survey, we find evidence of large declines in the real value of per capita food consumption. Smaller price elasticities with respect to calories than with respect to food consumption suggest that households trade off quality for quantity as they move away from nutrient-rich foods such as meat and vegetables toward staple foods. Our work improves upon country-level simulation studies by providing estimates of actual household food security during a price shock in one of the world's poorest, most food-insecure countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries use food-price subsidies or controls to improve nutrition. However, subsidizing goods on which households spend a high proportion of their budget can create large wealth effects. Consumers may then substitute toward foods with higher nonnutritional attributes (such as taste) but lower nutritional content per unit of currency, weakening or perhaps even reversing the subsidy's intended impact. We analyze data from a randomized program of large price subsidies for poor households in two provinces of China and find no evidence that the subsidies improved nutrition. In fact, they may have had a negative impact for some households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunger has been on the rise since the mid-1990s, due to a variety of factors, including a lack of policy attention and a sense of complacency generated by long-term real declines in food prices. Food prices rose sharply after 2006, and there is considerable controversy over the reasons why. Analysts have pointed to a number of factors as possible causes, including rising fuel prices, diversion of food crops into biofuels, speculation, increased meat consumption in Asia, climate change, and environmental degradation, among others. There is disagreement about both the role played by some of these factors in driving up prices, and also the weight to assign to each specific factor. Discussion of the consequences of higher food prices has been based primarily on modelling; this special issue of Development in Practice presents some new modelling results, as well as results from field research on the actual consequences for poor farmers and consumers in developing, transition, and developed countries. The price increases led to sometimes violent protests in scores of countries in 2007–08, thereby putting hunger back on the front policy burner. Food prices spiked in mid-2008 and remained well above the levels of the early 2000s, globally, throughout 2009–10. By December 2010, prices had risen again, surpassing the peaks of 2008. There is consensus concerning policy prescriptions on what to do about higher food prices; this is embodied, for example, in the UN's Comprehensive Framework for Action of 2008. However, the authors of a number of the articles in this special issue find limitations to that consensus and offer additional policy prescriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising food prices in the late 2000s sparked protests, sometimes violent, around the globe. These public expressions of outrage were only the tip of the iceberg. Many countries have a legacy of food wars. In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 14 countries faced severe food insecurity as a result of conflict, civil strife, forced displacement, or damage from past wars. Armed violence leads to ongoing cycles of food loss which have an impact on food availability, access, and nutrition. In turn, food insecurity can contribute to conflict, although the exact sequence tends to involve complex factors, including environmental scarcities and identity-based competition for access to and control over what are perceived to be limited resources. Policy attention is urgently needed to address these dynamics. Efforts to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable populations, to raise agricultural production, to build resilient food systems that contribute to global food and nutrition security, and to protect low-income people with safety nets must not lose sight of conflict legacies, especially in Africa. Programme-implementation strategies must proceed in a manner that will dampen, not heighten, conflict potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the interactive effect between the price of unhealthy foods and Food Stamp Program participation on body weight status among low-income women in the United States. We merged the panel data of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort in 1985-2002 and the Cost of Living Index data compiled by the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association by using geographic identifiers. Using the merged data, we used panel econometric models to examine the impact of unhealthy food prices on the food stamp-eligible U.S. population. Our results indicate that higher prices for unhealthy food can partially offset the positive association between Food Stamp Program participation and bodyweight among low-income women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We incorporate habit formation into an analysis of the effect of cereal price changes on the nutrient intake of the poor in China. We find that the poor’s nutrient intake responds asymmetrically to declines and increases in cereal prices, and that the asymmetric response of their fat intake may be due to habit formation. Our results also imply that introducing cereal price subsidies can increase their total energy intake by increasing their calorie intake from fat and protein, while ending such subsidies would insignificantly affect their total energy intake, but further increase their calorie intake from fat and protein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The 2008 food crisis may have increased household food insecurity and caused distress among impoverished populations in low-income countries. Policy researchers have attempted to quantify the impact that a sharp rise in food prices might have on population wellbeing by asking what proportion of households would drop below conventional poverty lines given a set increase in prices. Our understanding of the impact of food crises can be extended by conducting micro-level ethnographic studies. This study examined self-reported household food insecurity (FI) and common mental disorders (CMD) among 110 community health AIDS care volunteers living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the height of the 2008 food crisis. We used generalized estimating equations that account for associations between responses given by the same participants over 3 survey rounds during 2008, to model the longitudinal response profiles of FI, CMD symptoms, and socio-behavioral and micro-economic covariates. To help explain the patterns observed in the response profiles and regression results, we examine qualitative data that contextualize the cognition and reporting behavior of AIDS care volunteers, as well as potential observation biases inherent in longitudinal, community-based research. Our data show that food insecurity is highly prevalent, that is it associated with household economic factors, and that it is linked to mental health. Surprisingly, the volunteers in this urban sample did not report increasingly severe FI or CMD during the peak of the 2008 food crisis. This is a counter-intuitive result that would not be predicted in analyses of population-level data such as those used in econometrics simulations. But when these results are linked to real people in specific urban ecologies, they can improve our understanding of the psychosocial consequences of food price shocks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Does food cost more for low-income households? This paper compares two well-known approaches to answering this question. I find that quantity discounts for a broad range of foods are statistically significant and economically important. However quantity discounting does not lead to the poor paying more for food. I find that the poor pay less than average for the food they purchase. This is explained by the poor spending a greater share of their income on foods where quantity discounting occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the impact of food price changes the distributional affect within the Latin American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru between 2006 and 2008. The price transmission mechanism from world markets to local markets for various types of countries is analyzed. The effect of changes in food prices on household welfare and consumption in urban and rural areas is examined. The authors conclude that almost all poor households become even poorer due to high food prices.

The global food price shock of 2006-2008 has particularly affected poorer strata of populations in several developing countries. In Egypt and some other countries it has put food subsidy schemes to the test. This paper develops two comparable computable general equilibrium models for Egypt and Ukraine which are used to simulate direct and indirect impacts of the food price surge and various policy options on the performance of the main macroeconomic indicators as well as on poverty outcomes. The results illustrate the limited ability of realistic policy responses to mitigate negative social consequences of an external price shock. Food import tariff cuts are a partial remedy faring better than other analysed options. Furthermore, the Egyptian system of food subsidies needs substantial reforms limiting the related fiscal burden and improving the targeting of the poor population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Several studies have examined supermarket access for low-income residents, but few have explored how access to healthy food changes when a new food retailer such as a farmers’ market opens in a place previously known as a ‘food desert’. This paper uses a ‘before and after’ approach to examine the impact of the introduction of a farmers’ market on the price and availability of healthy food in an underserved urban neighbourhood. The farmers’ market had a major impact on grocery prices in the neighbourhood, which decreased by almost 12% in 3 years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]