FAO statement at HLPF Special Event on The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026: Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of a Healthy Diet

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues,

It is a pleasure to join you for the launch of the second part of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.

The first part of SOFI told us where we stand. This second part focuses on what we need to do.

To find the right solutions, we must first ask the right question.

Too often, we confuse the cost of a healthy diet with its affordability. They are not the same.

Affordability depends on people's incomes. Consumption depends on preferences and habits. But cost depends on how our agrifood systems work.

If healthy diets remain too expensive to produce, transport and market, no amount of income growth or nutrition education will be enough. That is why understanding the cost of a healthy diet is one of the most powerful entry points for transforming agrifood systems.

Today, a healthy diet costs 4.28 PPP dollars per person per day-about 25 percent more than just five years ago. This is not simply the result of temporary inflation. It reflects structural weaknesses in the way our agrifood systems produce, move and deliver nutritious foods.

The first lesson from our analysis is simple.

Calories are cheap. Nutrition is expensive.

Staple foods provide about half of the calories we need, but account for only a small share of the cost of a healthy diet. Fruits, vegetables and animal-source foods provide most of the vitamins, minerals and high-quality proteins essential for good nutrition, yet they account for the largest share of the cost.

In other words, the foods we need most for a healthy life are often the least affordable.

But averages tell only part of the story.

Healthy diet costs differ enormously across countries, regions and seasons. Our analysis shows that using foods that are locally available and culturally appropriate can reduce the cost of a healthy diet substantially. In Africa, for example, local foods dramatically lower costs compared with using a standardized global basket.

Within countries, the differences are equally striking. In remote areas, fruits and vegetables can cost more than twice as much as in major cities because of poor roads, weak logistics and high post-harvest losses.

This tells us something important:

The problem is not only what we produce. It is how food moves from farms to consumers.

Our econometric analysis confirms this.

Better roads, better logistics and lower energy costs consistently reduce the cost of healthy diets. Surprisingly, economic growth alone has only a modest effect.

The reason is straightforward.

Between 70 and 75 percent of the final cost of food is generated after it leaves the farm.

The biggest opportunity to reduce the cost of healthy diets therefore lies in improving storage, processing, transport, cold chains and wholesale markets.

This changes how we should think about investment.

Our simulations show that investing across the entire agrifood system is important, but the greatest returns come from removing bottlenecks in value chains for fruits and vegetables. Better rural roads, cold storage, logistics and market infrastructure can make nutritious foods more affordable while reducing food loss and waste.

Policy choices matter just as much.

Our analysis shows that subsidizing staple foods alone can actually increase the relative cost of a healthy diet, because it encourages production of calories rather than nutrients. By contrast, repurposing support toward fruits, vegetables and other nutrient-dense foods makes healthy diets more affordable and improves nutrition outcomes.

But reforms must be carefully sequenced.

If we stimulate demand before expanding supply, prices can rise and nutritious foods become even less affordable for the poorest households.

Supply must come first.

And sustainability must remain at the center of every decision.

Reducing costs by degrading soils, depleting water resources or undermining rural livelihoods is not a solution. It simply shifts today's costs into tomorrow's crises.

So what should we do?

The evidence points to three priorities.

First, reduce costs where they matter most-across the value chain, especially after the farm gate.

Second, repurpose policies and investments toward nutritious foods instead of reinforcing incentives that favor calories over nutrition.

Third, strengthen the evidence base through better subnational price data and greater policy coherence across agriculture, health, trade and social protection.

Excellencies,

The cost of a healthy diet is much more than a statistic.

It tells us where agrifood systems are failing.

It shows us where investments will have the greatest impact.

And it provides a roadmap for making healthy diets affordable for everyone.

If we can lower the cost of healthy diets, we will not only improve nutrition-we will build agrifood systems that are more productive, more resilient and more sustainable.

That is the opportunity before us.

Thank you.