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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy
Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2025
Market structure and efficiency in agricultural value chains: Deep dives in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Hunger and malnutrition remain critical developmental challenges in Central America. Since 2020, rates of moderate and severe food insecurity have risen across the region, while key indicators in early childhood nutrition persist at high levels across both lower- and upper-middle income states. Rising food prices play a key role in limiting access of the populations of these countries to healthy and affordable diets. In 2022 and 2023, food price inflation reached or exceeded 10% in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Across almost all of these countries, white maize remain more than 40% higher than their levels in 2021, while prices for red and black beans rose by 40% to 90% over the same period. Price increases have disproportionately affected poorer and rural households.