Increasing the Resilience of the Food Systems
In Islamic States in Face of Future Food Crises
41
3. Understanding the Food Systems of the OIC
3.1. Overview of Food System Sustainability in the OIC
The OIC is home to a substantial proportion of the world’s food-insecure population, with an
average of 98million severely food-insecure people in 2015-2017. This amounts to14.3%of the
global average for the same period and is notably higher than the average of 85.9 million for
2014-2016. Sierra Leone ranked theworst affected amongst OIC countries, with 70.6% average
prevalence of severe food insecurity in its population for 2015-2017, followed by Guinea
(39.9%) and Niger (37.2%).128
Political challenges have been the leading cause of food crises, causing the displacement of
millions of people and in early 2017, alerts flagged a risk of famine-like conditions in northeast
Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen. Climate extremes are a key contributor to food crises. Countries
with agricultural systems sensitive toclimatic variations and agriculture-dependent livelihoods
experience higher hunger levels and more severe food crises.129
Table 15: Number of Severely Food Insecure People Categorized by OIC Region (millions)
(3-year average) 2015 – 2017130
Region Number of Severely Food Insecure People
African Region 79.5
Asian Region 7.1
Arab Region 11.4
Total 98.0
Source: FAO
Among the countries most vulnerable to food crises, the FAO identified 28 OIC countries with
weak food systems. According to the FAO’s classification for 2016, 28 OIC countrieswere among
theworld’s 54 low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs)—nations that were net importers of
food (basic foodstuff) over the preceding three years and per capita income below the threshold
used by World Bank to appraise eligibility for International Development Association’s (IDA)
assistance. 131Most of the OIC states are in Sub-Saharan Africa and dry regions of West Asia and
Northeastern Africa. The majority of LIFD-classified countries suffer from high
undernourishment, intricate political conditions, and low incomes.132
Table 16: OIC - Low-Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs)
Afghanistan Cote d’Ivoire Djibouti Kyrgyzstan Niger Somalia Togo
Bangladesh Cameroon Gambia Mali Nigeria Syria Uganda
Benin Chad Guinea Mauritania Senegal Sudan Uzbekistan
Burkina Faso Comoros Guinea-Bissau Mozambique Sierra Leone Tajikistan Yemen
Source: SESRIC 2016
128 FAOSTAT Online Database.
129 FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP andWHO. (2018). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in theWorld 2018: Building climate
resilience for food security and nutrition. Retrieved
130 This data is compiled by the FAO using the Food InsecurityExperience Scale (FIES) which is a survey module based on
asking people, directly in a survey, to report on the occurrence of conditions and behaviors that are known to reflect
constraints on access tofood.
131 “Low-income food-deficit countries.” The Special Programme for Food Security.
132 SESRIC. (2016). Retrieved