By Milliam Murigi
Every evening, Nancy Wanjiku sits down with her four children for dinner in their home in Murang’a County, central part of Kenya.
Though there is always something to eat, ensuring her family eats a balanced, nutritious diet has become increasingly difficult.
“I make sure my children never sleep hungry,” she says. “But buying fruits and animal-source food every day is no longer possible. They have become an occasional treat.”
Like many low-income families, Wanjiku’s household mostly depends on plant-based proteins such as beans and green grams because meat, eggs and fish are often beyond their budget.
Milk is consumed in moderation, while vegetables are largely limited to kale, spinach and cabbage, which the family eats about three times a week.
The only period when her children enjoy abundance of fruits is during the mango and avocado seasons, when prices drop and the produce is readily available.
“Those are the months we eat fruits almost every day,” Wanjiku says. “After the season ends, buying them becomes difficult again. Even fruits that were once considered affordable are steadily becoming out of reach.”
Adding that “Nowadays, even buying ripe bananas is difficult. Many traders sell just three bananas for Sh20 (US$0.15). It may not seem expensive, but for a family of six, those costs quickly add up. Sometimes you have to choose between buying fruit and buying other food for the family,” she says.
Wanjiku’s experience reflects a growing global challenge highlighted in the 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the report, the world is making gradual progress in reducing hunger, but access to healthy diets is moving in the opposite direction. It estimates that 645 million people experienced hunger in 2025, reflecting a gradual improvement from previous years.
However, this progress masks a deeper nutrition crisis. An estimated 2.7 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet, with the burden falling most heavily on Africa.
According to the report, in Africa, 66.6 percent of the population could not afford a healthy diet in 2025, more than double the proportion in Asia and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
For many households, the challenge is no longer simply finding enough food to fill their stomachs, but being able to afford fruits, vegetables, animal-source foods and other nutrient-rich foods essential for good health.
“While we welcome the clear progress we have made in reducing hunger, a healthy diet still remains unaffordable for one in three people globally. Healthy diets are not a luxury they are the foundation of health and must be within everyone’s reach,” says WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The report found that animal-source foods, fruits and vegetables account for nearly 70 percent of the cost of a healthy diet. Their high prices mean millions of low-income families cannot afford to eat them regularly. Instead, many depend on cheaper staple foods that satisfy hunger but lack the range of nutrients needed for good health and proper growth.
While cereals such as maize, rice and wheat remain the main source of dietary energy for many households, the report says a healthy diet requires a wider variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, dairy products, eggs, fish and meat. Yet these are becoming increasingly expensive because of low agricultural productivity, inefficient food value chains, high transport costs and significant post-harvest losses.
“Food value chains are a major determinant of prices. Post-farm gate activities account for 70 to 75 percent of what consumers’ pay, with up to 40 percent of total costs arising in processing, logistics and wholesale. Improving efficiency in these segments is therefore critical, particularly for lowering the cost of perishable, nutrient-rich foods,” reads part of the report.
The report says large quantities of fruits, vegetables and other perishable foods spoil before reaching consumers because of inadequate storage facilities, poor rural roads and limited cold-chain infrastructure. These losses reduce the amount of food reaching markets, pushing up prices while lowering farmers’ incomes.
According to Álvaro Lario, IFAD President, tackling these weaknesses in food value chains is critical to making healthy diets more affordable.
“Resilient value chains must be a central part of the answer. Our task now is to turn the evidence SOFI provides into investment and to do so through partnership. Together, we can build the value chains, market systems and rural economies that make healthy food affordable for all,” says Lario.
The report reveals that, making healthy food affordable for all is necessary because, the burden falls heaviest on low-income families, who often respond by cutting back on nutrient-rich foods while maintaining consumption of cheaper staple foods. Nutrition experts warn that this shift has serious health consequences.
Children who lack diverse diets are at greater risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, poor growth and weakened immunity. Adults also face a higher risk of diet-related diseases when healthy foods remain unaffordable.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu says the findings show that ending hunger is no longer enough if healthy diets remain beyond the reach of millions.
“The report shows that progress is possible, but we must move faster. Ending hunger and making healthy diets affordable requires political commitment, sustained investment and enabling policies.”
Global progress on maternal and child nutrition also remains insufficient to meet international commitments, including the 2030 nutrition targets according to the report.
Indicators such as child stunting, wasting, overweight, low birth weight and exclusive breastfeeding show only marginal improvements and progress is too slow to meet the targets.
At the same time, anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is worsening, while the prevalence of adult obesity shows a steady increase from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 16.2 percent in 2024 – contrary to the target of halting its rise by 2025.
Only 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet and 150 million children under five years of age are still stunted.
“Progress again varies significantly across regions. The prevalence of child stunting is declining in Africa and is on track to meet the 2030 target in Asia, while exclusive breastfeeding rates are improving across all regions where data is available. However, nearly all regions are experiencing widening gaps in addressing anaemia among women, and child overweight is increasing rapidly in Oceania,” reads another part of the report.
The report warns that unless governments address the structural factors driving up the cost of healthy diets, progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal two (Zero Hunger) will remain slow.
Among its recommendations are increased investment in horticulture, improved rural roads, expanded cold-chain infrastructure and policies aimed at reducing food loss and waste. Such investments, it argues, would lower the price consumers pay for nutritious foods while increasing farmers’ incomes and strengthening food systems.
“Behind every number in this report is a family counting the cost of food. Conflict and climate shocks push them further beyond their means. We must continue working with governments and communities to build food systems that can withstand shocks so families can afford nutritious diets, even in times of crisis,” says Carl Skau, Acting Executive Director of the World Food Programme.
