Oxfam reaction to SOFI 2025 report

In reaction to the United Nations’ 2025 edition of “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” (SOFI) report launched today, showing only a slight progress in reducing hunger and warning that over half a billion people could be chronically hungry by 2030—nearly 60% of them in Africa — Emily Farr, Oxfam’s Food and Economic Security Lead, said:  

“We are witnessing the collapse of a moral contract. While some regions have seen some modest gains, the world is veering dangerously off track, leaving the poorest and more vulnerable behind.  As top donors, including the G7, push through a historic 28% cut to aid by 2026, 2.6 billion people —over a third of humanity —still cannot afford a healthy diet. These are not just statistics. These are lives unravelling and futures stolen. 

“This is not a crisis of scarcity — it is a crisis of inequality.  Climate chaos, conflict unchecked, and broken policies—driven by greed and impunity—are tearing apart global food systems and entrenching inequality. In 2024 alone, billionaires’ wealth soared by $2 trillion while poverty barely budged.  Since 2015, the world’s richest 1% have amassed $33.9 trillion — enough to end global poverty 22 times over. Yet hunger persists, not by accident, but by design. As fields flood and crops wither, aid is slashed, and a few corporate giants profit from the wreckage.  

Low-income countries are paying the highest price for a crisis they did not create. While global food price inflation peaked at 13.6 percent, it soared to 30 percent in the poorest economies— wiping out household budgets and access to food. In Africa, 1 in 5 people remain chronically hungry, with women and children hit hardest by deep cuts in nutrition programs. 

“We cannot afford a global food system built on injustice and indifference. Despite a modest improvement, we are nowhere the pace needed to meet global goals. The tide can still be turned, but only if governments act with urgency and unity: restore gutted aid, crack down on food profiteers, and invest in local farmers and local food systems that feed people, not profit margins.”