Fiji, Nov. 10 -- The El Niño extreme weather pattern could cost the global economy up to US$11 trillion and seriously impact food security, said the UN agency tackling rural poverty in developing countries on Monday.

The new IFAD report identifies El Niño as one of several overlapping climate and economic shocks affecting small-scale food producers and rural economies, warning that agricultural disruptions can ripple through the wider economy.

In 2026 alone, global energy and fertiliser shocks drove up costs across food systems within a single planting season - from production and processing to transport and distribution.

To strengthen rural economies' resilience to overlapping shocks, the report calls for bundled investments...