As part of Devex’s coverage of food systems, we looked into the World Food Programme — the U.N. organization whose procurement volume was the second-largest in 2020 — to identify funding trends and top suppliers.
Based on the 2020 Annual Statistical Report, WFP spent almost $4 billion in 2020 — a slight increase of 9.5% compared to 2019. What’s significant, though, is that $3 billion — or 75% of its spending — was sourced from low- and middle-income countries, and nations with economies in transition.
This positions WFP as the top U.N. agency in procurement value buying from countries outside of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. By sector, WFP was also the top U.N. spender in two categories: food and farming products, with $1.8 billion, and transportation and storage, with $1.3 billion.