Counting the Beans: UN Tool that Measures the True Cost of Food Across Border

Counting the Beans: UN Tool that Measures the True Cost of Food Across Border

"Counting the Bean" is an innovative tool designed by United Nation World Food Programme, WFP, which highlights the true cost of food by presenting variation in food cost across the world. In case you want to know or better still compare the true cost of food and probably the average income as against other country, this tool will deliver the equivalent. This tool helps to see how much in equivalent income an exact plate of the same meal would cost in different countries.

This tool is an open-access online data-driven interface that is easily understandable by both experts and the general public in quantifying the relative cost of food worldwide.

Counting the Beans compares what food really costs to members of different countries, projecting that nominal food price does not capture the true picture, rather than focus on the product’s nominal price, we focus on the price as perceived by those meant to purchase the product, say the tool’s developers.
By calculating food expenditure as a fraction of average daily income, Counting the Beans emphasizes the difference between price and affordability.
The tool includes two side column; the left column houses richer countries of which only South Africa from the continent of Africa makes the list while the right column comprises of poorer nations of which Africa and Asia countries populated the list

There are many reasons or indices why the same plate of food might cost a day's wages in one country and a handful of small change in another. These factors ranges from
Conflict and Insecurity,
Changing climate,
Post-harvest losses,
Fragmented markets,
Retail Inefficiencies,etc.

Think about how much a plate of food would cost you in the United Kingdom to Nigeria. In relative terms £ 98.06 is what you would pay in North-East, Nigeria. The difference in cost is a representation of the difference in the burden for those in different populations buying the same plate of food. These numbers, for example, compare burden for residents of North East, Nigeria with burden for residents of UK

Counting the Beans also incorporate countries’ average daily incomes hence, emphasizes the difference in burden, .
In North-East, Nigeria , the £ 98.06 price equivalent is estimated to be 121 percent of average daily income. While a plate of food of average daily income equivalent is 7.6 percent in Pakistan, 7 percent in Kenya and 2.3% in Jordan

Counting the Beans involves the creation of a standard meal and calculation of the costs of a single serving of that meal in each country. The standard meal consisted of a bean or pulse-based stew and an accompanying local carbohydrate. This meal was estimated to be 600 calories—between 25 and 30 percent of the daily calories adults requirement.
Followed by per-person average daily budget by country is calculated based on each country’s GDP per capita. After which the developers derived the meal-to-income ratio.

This ratio allows Counting the Beans to account for differences in purchasing power by country: a changing ratio between two consumers in two different countries represents affordability. The theoretical price of a plate of food is then created using this ratio in comparison with the reference location

Counting the Beans report includes nutrition, supply chain, and sector-specific priorities for action to reduce food cost disparities, citing that most reasons for food insecurity and price disparity relate “to the complex network of relationships that form pathways along which food travels from the people who grow, raise or catch it to those who buy, cook and eat it.”

The tool currently includes 22 reference countries, allowing it to report the cost of food in several western currencies as well as 33 developing nations. Users can interact with the tool and explore food price disparities, as well as learn more about the Plate of Food Index and ways to support WFP’s hunger alleviation program

Source
Plateoffood.org
Foodtank.com

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