central and south america regional report

17
A report from The Economist Intelligence Unit Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014 Sponsored by

Upload: adam-greenfader

Post on 13-Jan-2017

118 views

Category:

Business


3 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Central and South America Regional Report

A report from The Economist Intelligence Unit

Food security in focus:

Central & South America 2014

Sponsored by

Page 2: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20141

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014 is an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report commissioned by DuPont. The report discusses the major findings in the 2014 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) for the 18 countries of Central & South America included in the index.

About the GFSI The GFSI considers the core issues of affordability, availability, and quality & safety across a set of 109 countries. The index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model, constructed from 28 unique indicators, that measures the drivers of food security across both developed and developing countries. Food security is defined as the state in which people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for a healthy and active life, based on the definition established at the 1996 World Food Summit. The overall goal of the study is to assess the vulnerability of food systems to security and insecurity by looking at drivers of the Affordability, Availability, and Quality & Safety of food. The 2014 GFSI is the third annual index in this series.

Acknowledgements

Lucy Hurst, associate director of custom research for the Americas, was the project director. Joshua Grundleger, analyst, was the project manager. Katherine Stewart, research associate, was the editor of the Food security in focus series. Martin Vieiro, analyst, provided research and analytical support. Leo Abruzzese, global forecasting director and global director of public policy, served as senior adviser. William Shallcross designed and constructed the benchmarking model, and Mike Kenny was responsible for layout and design. Robert Wood, senior editor/economist for Latin America, provided regional expertise.

PrefaceContents

A regional analysis of food security 2

Regional results and comparisons 3

Food security in Central & South America 6

The countries of Central & South America 9

Appendix 12

Page 3: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20142

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

The Food security in focus regional reports identify both similarities and differences between countries in each region and highlight regional areas of strength and weakness, providing regional analysis and context to the results in the 2014 GFSI.

Food security is a complex and nuanced issue, which can be analysed through many viewpoints and from many geographical perspectives—national, regional and global. To facilitate greater insight into the primary elements of global food security, and to develop a common standard against which all countries and regions can be measured, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) created the Global Food Security Index (GFSI). The index is a tool to be used by a wide range of organisations and individuals working to address food security and the smooth functioning of food systems at a variety of levels. Some of the major elements of food security and, in particular, the deficiencies that may lead to greater food insecurity, differ across the globe. The regional reports seek to facilitate a deeper analysis of food

security through a unique lens. Specifically, these reports seek to:

l Examine regional challenges, strengths and issues surrounding food security to gain greater insight into the study’s measures.

l Provide a point of comparison between the regions to understand the dynamics of food security and the mechanisms that may be employed to address the unique issues that are experienced within a region.

l Explore the role of regional commonalities—countries within a region tend to have similar environments, problems, solutions and, in some cases, may share common institutions.

l Create more accurate country comparisons and a more nuanced understanding of food security by narrowing the frame of analysis.

l Offer insight into the economic, political and social context of the results of the 2014 GFSI.

A regional analysis of food security

Page 4: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20143

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

OverviewOn a regional level, structural elements, which are generally more similar within regions than across the globe, tend to play an extremely important role in determining food security. Also, in regions that include countries with different economic systems, policy environments, agricultural infrastructures and nutritional standards, the gap in food security between best and worst performers is wider. These structural elements tend to change little year on year; however, when changes do occur, they have a greater impact on food security than other factors explored in the index.

l Economic development has the largest impact on food security, as shown by the strong correlation between food affordability and food security. The top performers in the index are rich countries with developed economies; these tend

Regional results and comparisons

Ranking/score table of all regions

Overall Rank Region 2014 GFSI Score

1 North America 80.0

2 Europe 75.4

3 Middle East and North Africa 57.4

4 Central and South America 56.0

5 Asia and Pacific 55.0

6 Sub-Saharan Africa 36.1

to have relatively high levels of GDP per capita and low shares of household expenditure on food. Although emerging economies are experiencing rapid GDP growth, resulting in increased Affordability scores and greater urban absorption capacity, the gap between developed and developing countries is still great.

l The most food-secure countries also tend to have developed infrastructures, including advanced agricultural infrastructures and facilities and systems that support agricultural investment and research and development (R&D). Transport infrastructure, including road and port systems, and adequate crop storage facilities drive food availability and are underdeveloped and undersupplied across food-insecure countries owing to underinvestment.

Page 5: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20144

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

l A stable, efficient and functional policy environment is crucial for food security. More food-insecure regions, as well as countries, frequently have higher political stability risk and corruption levels, alongside weaker institutions that fail to provide appropriate government regulation and oversight. By contrast, the more food-secure regions have robust policy environments that facilitate food accessibility through stable supply chains, and affordability through food safety-net programmes.

l Nutrition plays an important role in determining food security. Highly food-secure countries have diversified diets and a high quality of protein. Their diets contain a high level of micronutrients, including iron and vitamin A. More food-insecure countries are often deprived of nutritious diets and lack organisations that regulate nutritional standards.

Regional results

North America and Europe, which collectively encompass 29 of the 109 countries in the index, recorded the strongest performances in the GFSI, driven by the developed countries’ dominance of those regions.

l As two regions comprised primarily of rich countries, Europe and North America have high levels of GDP per capita at an average of US$32,462 measured in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), compared with an average of US$9,900 at PPP in the other four regions, while an average of 17.7% of household expenditure goes on food—just over half the global average of 34.5%.

l Wealth corresponds with high sufficiency of food supply, developed agricultural infrastructure, strong diet diversification, relatively low political stability risk and low corruption levels (Ukraine and Russia are exceptions). These factors contribute to North America’s and Europe’s first and second place rankings respectively in the overall index and in each of the categories.

Availability

Rank Region Score

1 North America 76.7

2 Europe 69.8

3 Asia and Pacific 55.6

4 Middle East and North Africa 55.0

5 Central and South America 54.1

6 Sub-Saharan Africa 42.1

Affordability

Rank Region Score

1 North America 83.6

2 Europe 80.3

3 Middle East and North Africa 59.1

4 Central and South America 56.8

5 Asia and Pacific 53.9

6 Sub-Saharan Africa 29.2

Page 6: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20145

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

The next three highest-ranked regions—the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Central & South America and Asia & Pacific—together account for 52 countries in the index. They all fall within a range of 2.4 points and share several common factors:

l They are comprised of a mixture of developed and developing countries that vary in terms of economic and political structures.

l MENA’s strong Affordability score (third overall), which is 2.3 points ahead of Central & South America, and its third-place tie in Quality & Safety with Central & South America account for its overall third-place regional rank in the index.

l Asia & Pacific’s comparatively high percentage of the population under the global poverty line and low diet diversification explain its lower scores in the Affordability and Quality & Safety categories.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the lowest regional score in the 2014 GFSI, with an overall score that is just two-thirds that of the Asia & Pacific region.

l It also scores the lowest in each of the Affordability, Availability and Quality & Safety categories, owing to the large percentage of low-income countries in the region; of the 28 countries included in the region, 18 are low-income, according to World Bank income classifications.

l Low agricultural import tariffs and commitment to agricultural research and development, while still weak, are areas of relative strength in comparison with select regions, but underdeveloped agricultural infrastructure, low income levels and poor diet diversification drive the region’s poor results.

Quality & Safety

Rank Region Score

1 North America 80.3

2 Europe 78.9

=3 Central and South America 59.5

=3 Middle East and North Africa 59.5

5 Asia and Pacific 56.4

6 Sub-Saharan Africa 36.8

Page 7: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20146

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 47m people in Central & South America and Mexico (CSA) suffered from hunger in 2011-13, a 6.6% decline from 2008-10. In recent years there has been a palpable reduction in poverty and extreme poverty in CSA, but the regional slowdown experienced in 2013 (as a whole Latin America and the Caribbean grew by only 2.6%) partly explains why the gains appear to have lost momentum. According to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the number of people in CSA (and Mexico) living in poverty amounted to 164m in 2013, and the number of those in extreme poverty rose by 2m in 2012 to 68m—equivalent to 11.5% of the population.

The region as a whole produces enough food to feed itself and is also a major food exporter, owing

to the agricultural powerhouses of Brazil and Argentina. As a net exporter of food, fluctuations in regional production can be felt in in terms of affordability and access in target markets in Asia and Africa. In 2013 the region’s output of cereals increased to 186.7m tonnes, from 170m tonnes in 2012, driven largely by a rise in corn production. Governments of countries where agricultural production is not so bountiful have sought to buoy output, particularly of smaller-scale farms. In December 2013, at the second summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) and PetroCaribe (an oil alliance of many Caribbean states with Venezuela), member countries announced measures to boost food availability. Despite a regional focus on increasing production, the vagaries of the weather and crop

Food security in Central & South America

Average agricultural import tariffs, by region%

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit

Central and South America

North America Europe Asia and Pacific Sub-Saharan Africa Middle East andNorth Africa

0

5

10

15

20

25

Page 8: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20147

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

diseases still have the potential to cause localised problems, particularly for smaller-scale operations, which require targeted policy interventions as well as longer-term planning.

Regional highlightsAlthough economic growth slowed in 2013, rising incomes helped to offset the effects of regional food price inflation, which, according to the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, experienced an average weighted increase of 10.2% in 2013 (food price inflation in 2012 was 8.9%), and households in the majority of countries in the region spent a lower percentage of household income on food. CSA’s agricultural import tariffs are low by global standards. This reflects the socio-political imperative of ensuring that as much of the population as possible has a sufficient calorific intake, and high food prices have driven the governments of some countries, such as Bolivia, to reduce import tariffs in order to bolster access. Despite a strong tariff environment throughout the region, in Colombia the government introduced safeguard measures in late 2013 for a two-year period to reduce imports of potatoes, onions, beans, tomatoes and other items through higher tariffs. Nevertheless, these factors have resulted in a marked regional improvement in food affordability.

In terms of the region’s scores in the GFSI, gains in the Affordability category more than offset score slippages in the Quality & Safety measure. High urbanisation rates, coupled with stunted GDP growth over the past year and the prevalence of corruption in the region, which continues to impair food availability through distortions and inefficiencies in resource allocation and distribution systems, negatively affected the availability of food. A decrease in accessibility of potable water resulted in score declines in the Quality & Safety category for the majority of countries in the region (Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina experienced some improvement).

Regional strengths: Commitment and constancyThe more comprehensive regional presence of food safety nets, together with a decrease in the percentage of household expenditure on food and improved agricultural infrastructure owing to port development in Chile and the Dominican Republic, has driven an overall score increase of 0.4 for the region in the 2014 GFSI. Several countries’ application of the lessons learned from successful food safety net programmes, notably Brazil’s Bolsa Familia conditional cash transfer (CCT) initiative, has in recent years bolstered food accessibility and affordability across the region. For example, in

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

Jan2000

Jan2001

Jan2002

Jan2003

Jan2004

Jan2005

Jan2006

Jan2007

Jan2008

Jan2009

Jan2010

Jan2011

Jan2012

Jan2013

Brazil Food price inflationJan 2005=100

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit; FAO.

Page 9: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20148

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

October 2013 the government of the Dominican Republic announced its own Zero Hunger National Programme for Food Security and Nutrition for the period 2013-16. Chile, Nicaragua and Uruguay, following in Brazil’s footsteps, have also implemented food safety net programmes that have resulted in score improvements.

Despite localised problems of harvest failure that are affecting some crops used for both domestic consumption and cash crop exports, on the whole CSA scores very well on volatility of agricultural production. This reflects the region’s large arable land mass and fairly good level of agricultural development. Climate change, however, is increasing the frequency of natural disasters, and the capacity of vulnerable populations to recover from their devastating impact is a growing challenge. Since 2012 an outbreak of coffee rust disease has swept through coffee-growing communities in many parts of Central America, reducing food access for many families that depend on this cash crop for a living. Poor rains in Bolivia’s drought-prone El Chaco region in early 2013 led to large losses of maize for subsistence farmers. Local areas of southern Ecuador also experienced drought in mid-2013, which hit crops and livestock.

CSA receives high overall scores for nutritional standards and food safety, despite the regional decline in access to potable water. These factors are areas of strength for a majority of countries in the GFSI, reflecting the importance of food security policies in national agendas that have helped to build enabling frameworks for food safety and a general commitment to increasing nutritional standards.

Regional weaknesses: Growing urbanisation, minimal innovationUrbanisation rates in the majority of the region’s upper-middle-income countries, ranging from 1.05% to 2.54% in 2010-12, are high by developed-country standards, and the rural-urban shift in poorer countries is still ongoing owing to their large rural populations. High urbanisation rates and the slowdown in GDP growth that the

region experienced in 2013 account for CSA’s low urban absorption capacity, which weighed on the region’s food availability. This, combined with high corruption levels across the region, which hamper food accessibility by distorting allocation even if there are sufficient quantities of food available, result in CSA’s lagging performance in the Availability category.

Given the large arable land mass in Latin America, the region’s low agricultural research and development (R&D) spending ratio is disappointing. Brazil scores the best among the countries in the region, with agricultural R&D spending estimated at between 1.5% and 2% of agricultural GDP, reflecting the pioneering work of the Embrapa agricultural extension agency, which has been operating for more than 40 years and has helped the sector to innovate and boost production. Argentina, Chile and Uruguay commit public spending of between 1% and 1.5% of agricultural GDP, while the rest of the countries invest less. Guatemala, the lowest-scoring country in the region, spends just 0.06% of agricultural GDP on R&D.

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20

Volatility of agricultural production, Central & South AmericaStandard deviation

El Salvador

Paraguay

Argentina

Uruguay

Nicaragua

Guatemala

Honduras

Peru

Dominican Republic

Bolivia

Colombia

Chile

Haiti

Panama

Costa Rica

Brazil

Venezuela

Ecuador

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit

Page 10: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 20149

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

The countries of Central & South America

Central & South America can be divided into three broad economic regions in terms of their development and placing in the GFSI. As income levels are closely linked to food security outcomes, it is not surprising that the more developed southern countries in South America—Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay—do well. Venezuela also does relatively well, reflecting well-established safety nets for the poor, but underlying macroeconomic distortions and foreign-exchange shortages have increased in recent months, impairing food supply and posing a risk to its

position going forward. Less developed economies—such as Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and to some extent Colombia—lie behind the leaders. Most of the Central American and Caribbean countries are placed further behind, largely reflecting lower income levels. That said, Costa Rica and Panama are notable exceptions in this sub-region, lying in third and seventh place respectively out of the 18 countries in the region.

Geographically, CSA can be split into four sub-regions. To the east of the Andes lie the agricultural centres of Brazil and Argentina. Not

Correlation between GFSI overall score and GFSI affordability scoreOverall score v Food affordability, Central & South America

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Food

aff

orda

bilit

y

Overall scoreOverall score: Rating 0-100Affordability: Rating 0-100

Correlation (x,y) 0.97

Haiti

Nicaragua

GuatemalaEl Salvador

ParaguayParaguay

Peru

Colombia

Venezuela

UruguayCosta Rica

Argentina

Brazil Chile

Panama

Dominican RepublicEcuador

Honduras

Page 11: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 201410

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

only do these countries produce for export, thanks to their abundant arable land, but they also provide considerable and diversified food for their populations. To the west of the Andes, Chile has developed an advanced agro-export industry in the fertile strip of land benefiting from water runoff from the mountains. Subsistence farming plays a larger role in Bolivia, Peru and to some extent Colombia, explaining the weaker food security scores for these countries. This is also the case for Central American countries, an area where agricultural production is more prone to damage from the ravages of the weather. Caribbean islands tend to be more dependent on food imports.

Country highlightsThere is a broad correlation in the index between country incomes and food security. Chile, one of the two upper-income countries in the region, has the highest overall food security, while Haiti, the only low-income country, has the lowest. Because their GDP per head is higher and their households spend a smaller share of their income on food, the upper-middle-income countries have higher overall scores than the lower-middle-income countries, which correlates strongly with their overall index performance. However, the link between country income and food security is not uniform: for example, Uruguay, the other high-income country in Central & South America, scores fifth overall behind three upper-middle-income countries (Brazil, Costa Rica and Argentina). This discrepancy stems from Uruguay’s low GDP per head relative to Chile’s and Argentina’s and higher food spending as a percentage of household expenditure than in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. There are a number of other factors not in Uruguay’s favour, namely minimal access to financing for farmers, high volatility of agricultural production, high food loss and comparatively low diet diversification. Nonetheless, country income levels are the major predictor of food security in Central & South America.

Food security successes

Chile is Latin America’s food security leader and the only country in the region ranked in the GFSI’s Best Environment grouping (the top quartile). Within the region, Chile leads in terms of Affordability and Availability and is second to Argentina in Quality & Safety. Chile’s 1.6 point improvement in the overall score this year reflects a broadening of its food safety nets as well as gains in agricultural infrastructure and port facilities, both of which buoy food availability. Chile scores somewhat poorly for public expenditure on agricultural R&D and GDP per capita. While Chile transitioned this year from an upper-middle-income country to a high-income one, reflecting brisk GDP growth rates, income levels will nevertheless have to rise to converge with those of more developed countries. Furthermore, income inequality remains rampant.

Brazil’s social welfare programme Bolsa Familia promotes improved education and healthcare. A key to its success has been its integration with social policies for food and nutrition security. The government has also increased investments in potable water and sanitation. Between 1990 and 2013 the prevalence of undernourishment declined from 15% to 7%, and between 1989 and 2007 the prevalence of child stunting fell from about 19% to 7%, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). With the largest food supply in the region and low chronic food aid dependency, Brazil is an agricultural powerhouse and a large global exporter. That said, agricultural infrastructure, particularly poor road and port infrastructure, remains a constraint. In the past year the government has begun to offer concessions to upgrade logistics infrastructure, which should result in improvements once the projects come to fruition over the medium term. Brazil’s GDP per capita levels are lower than in more developed countries and its economy has weakened since the 2004-10 boom, with an outlook for modest growth going forward. The public policies that have helped to lift millions out

Page 12: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 201411

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

of poverty and reduce income inequality in the past decade—namely minimum wage rises and robust CCT programmes—are firmly embedded and unlikely to be reversed, which will help cement gains in food security indicators.

Improvements in food affordability and availability have more than compensated for Bolivia’s decline in the Quality & Safety category, which has been blighted (as is the case for many countries in the index) by downward revisions to the latest estimates available for the percentage of the population with access to potable water. Bolivia’s recent high-growth cycle has reduced the share of food consumption in total household expenditure, which was high in the past (Bolivia moved from ranking 15th in the region in the 2013 index to 6th place in 2014 index). Poverty has fallen, but income levels in Bolivia still lag well behind those in developed countries, indicating considerable room for catch-up. Additionally, although social unrest has long been a feature of Bolivian politics, with demonstrations often cutting off road transport of food produce, the incidence of protests has eased. More rapid GDP growth has lifted the country’s urban absorption capacity, an important phenomenon in Bolivia given that the rural-urban shift is still blossoming, while in most Latin American countries urbanisation rates are already fairly high.

Food security challengesGuatemala, plagued by insufficient food supply, poor-quality protein and low GDP per head, continues to be among the weaker performers in the region. In 2012 the government began implementing a multi-sectoral strategy called the Zero Hunger Plan with the aim of reducing malnutrition in children by 10% by the end of 2015. The plan prioritises 166 municipalities with

the highest prevalence of chronic malnutrition. Separately, in a bid to combat higher food prices in 2013, Guatemala introduced the new Pa’quete Alcance initiative, which includes a line of action to support farmers. Although Guatemala’s overall score fell by 0.3 points in the index this year, the implementation of the government’s ambitious plan may well see improvements materialise in the future.

Haiti, the only low-income country in the region and also the worst-performing one, saw large improvements between the 2013 and 2014 indices. Haiti’s improvement in the rankings reflects a low starting point and is attributable to the ongoing recovery from the impact of the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country. The installation of adequate crop storage facilities, which were previously lacking, resulted in better agricultural infrastructure and increased food availability, and a reduction in import tariffs (to 6%) helped the flow of food imports, on which Haiti crucially depends. More than half the population lives in rural areas, but the country imports half its food and 80% of its rice. The government aims for Haiti to produce 60% of its own food in the medium term, which will require boosting production of locally grown crops rather than relying on rice imports. Foreign aid agencies have begun to adopt more market-oriented policies and, instead of distributing imported food from the US, have begun to offer food vouchers to indigent families to be spent on locally grown food. Economic growth has buoyed urban absorption capacity and contributed to political stability, and rising incomes have helped to reduce food consumption as a share of household expenditure, which has augmented the country’s food security. But despite this Haiti still has a very long way to go to catch up with developed, more food-secure economies.

Page 13: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 201412

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

Appendix

Asia & Pacific Central & South America

Europe Middle East & North Africa

North America Sub-Saharan Africa

Australia Argentina Austria Algeria Canada Angola

Azerbaijan Bolivia Belarus Egypt Mexico Benin

Bangladesh Brazil Belgium Israel United States Botswana

Cambodia Chile Bulgaria Jordan Burkina Faso

China Colombia Czech Republic Kuwait Burundi

India Costa Rica Denmark Morocco Cameroon

Indonesia Dominican Republic Finland Saudi Arabia Chad

Japan Ecuador France Syria Congo (Dem. Rep.)

Kazakhstan El Salvador Germany Tunisia Côte d’Ivoire

Malaysia Guatemala Greece Turkey Ethiopia

Myanmar Haiti Hungary United Arab Emirates Ghana

Nepal Honduras Ireland Yemen Guinea

New Zealand Nicaragua Italy Kenya

Pakistan Panama Netherlands Madagascar

Philippines Paraguay Norway Malawi

Singapore Peru Poland Mali

South Korea Uruguay Portugal Mozambique

Sri Lanka Venezuela Romania Niger

Tajikistan Russia Nigeria

Thailand Serbia Rwanda

Uzbekistan Slovakia Senegal

Vietnam Spain Sierra Leone

Sweden South Africa

Switzerland Sudan

Ukraine Tanzania

United Kingdom Togo

Uganda

Zambia

Country selection table

Page 14: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 201413

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

Appendix These tables list the rankings and scores for Central & South America in the overall index and across the three categories (Affordability, Availability and Quality & Safety).

Overall Ranking Affordability

Overall Rank Country Score Rank Country Score

1 Chile 72.5 1 Chile 74.5

2 Brazil 68.1 2 Brazil 70.7

3 Costa Rica 65.8 3 Venezuela 68.3

4 Argentina 65.4 4 Argentina 66.6

5 Uruguay 65.0 5 Uruguay 66.5

6 Venezuela 62.5 6 Costa Rica 61.6

7 Panama 61.2 7 Peru 60.5

8 Colombia 58.0 8 Colombia 59.1

9 Peru 56.3 9 Panama 56.5

10 Dominican Republic 54.5 10 Paraguay 56.0

11 Ecuador 54.2 11 Ecuador 55.4

12 Paraguay 53.1 12 Dominican Republic 54.9

13 Bolivia 50.6 13 Bolivia 52.9

14 Honduras 50.1 14 El Salvador 51.1

15 El Salvador 48.8 15 Honduras 49.6

16 Guatemala 46.9 16 Guatemala 49.0

17 Nicaragua 45.6 17 Nicaragua 45.0

18 Haiti 30.2 18 Haiti 24.8

Availability Quality & Safety

Rank Country Score Rank Country Score

1 Chile 71.2 1 Argentina 78.0

2 Costa Rica 69.2 2 Chile 71.3

=3 Brazil 64.9 3 Brazil 70.4

=3 Panama 64.9 4 Costa Rica 67.2

5 Uruguay 63.4 5 Venezuela 66.2

6 Argentina 59.6 6 Uruguay 65.9

7 Colombia 56.2 7 Panama 62.6

8 Venezuela 55.8 8 Dominican Republic 60.5

9 Peru 52.2 9 Colombia 60.0

10 Dominican Republic 52.0 10 Ecuador 58.8

11 Ecuador 51.4 11 Paraguay 58.2

12 Paraguay 48.6 12 El Salvador 57.7

13 Honduras 48.5 13 Peru 57.0

14 Bolivia 48.4 14 Honduras 55.5

15 Nicaragua 44.9 15 Guatemala 52.9

16 El Salvador 43.6 16 Bolivia 50.5

17 Guatemala 42.8 17 Nicaragua 48.8

18 Haiti 35.6 18 Haiti 28.8

Page 15: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 201414

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

Appendix These tables list the year-on-year score changes, 2014 v 2013, for Central & South America in the overall index and across the three categories (Affordability, Availability and Quality & Safety).

Overall Ranking Affordability

Country Y-o-Y change Country Y-o-Y change

Bolivia 1.9 Venezuela 4.7

Haiti 1.8 Bolivia 4.1

Chile 1.6 Nicaragua 4.0

Nicaragua 1.5 Chile 3.7

Colombia 1.3 Colombia 3.3

Costa Rica 1.2 Uruguay 3.3

Dominican Republic 0.6 Guatemala 2.6

Ecuador 0.6 Haiti 1.5

Uruguay 0.4 Paraguay 0.9

Peru 0.1 Panama 0.5

Venezuela 0.0 Ecuador 0.5

Panama -0.1 Peru 0.3

Argentina -0.2 Costa Rica 0.2

Guatemala -0.3 Dominican Republic 0.2

Brazil -0.5 Argentina 0.2

Honduras -0.6 Brazil 0.0

Paraguay -0.7 Honduras -1.1

El Salvador -1.4 El Salvador -3.2

Availability Quality & Safety

Country Y-o-Y change Country Y-o-Y change

Haiti 3.2 Ecuador 1.1

Costa Rica 3.1 Brazil 0.1

Dominican Republic 1.7 Argentina 0.1

Chile 0.8 Panama -0.1

Bolivia 0.8 Guatemala -0.2

Colombia 0.6 Honduras -0.6

Peru 0.4 Bolivia -0.8

Ecuador 0.4 Peru -0.9

El Salvador 0.2 Chile -0.9

Nicaragua 0.1 Costa Rica -1.0

Honduras -0.1 El Salvador -1.2

Panama -0.8 Nicaragua -1.2

Argentina -0.8 Uruguay -1.3

Brazil -1.1 Dominican Republic -1.5

Paraguay -1.5 Haiti -1.5

Uruguay -1.5 Venezuela -1.6

Guatemala -3.0 Colombia -1.9

Venezuela -3.7 Paraguay -2.5

Page 16: Central and South America Regional Report

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 201415

Food security in focus: Central & South America 2014

Whilst every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of this

information, neither The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. nor the

sponsor of this report can accept any responsibility or liability

for reliance by any person on this white paper or any of the

information, opinions or conclusions set out in the white paper.

Cove

r: G

etty

Page 17: Central and South America Regional Report

London20 Cabot SquareLondon E14 4QWUnited KingdomTel: (44.20) 7576 8000Fax: (44.20) 7576 8476E-mail: [email protected]

New York750 Third Avenue5th FloorNew York, NY 10017United StatesTel: (1.212) 554 0600Fax: (1.212) 586 0248E-mail: [email protected]

Hong Kong6001, Central Plaza18 Harbour RoadWanchai Hong KongTel: (852) 2585 3888Fax: (852) 2802 7638E-mail: [email protected]

GenevaBoulevard des Tranchées 161206 GenevaSwitzerlandTel: (41) 22 566 2470Fax: (41) 22 346 93 47E-mail: [email protected]