UN: World failing to feed its people
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One in eight people around the world is chronically undernourished, the United Nations’ food agencies said yesterday, warning world leaders that some regions would fail in halving the number of hungry by 2015.
In their latest report on food insecurity, the UN agencies estimated that 842 million people were suffering chronic hunger in 2011-13, or 12 percent of the world’s population, down 17 percent from 1990-92.
The new figure was lower than the last estimate of 868 million in 2010-12 and 1.02 billion in 2009, but the report said progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goal to halve the prevalence of hunger by 2015 was uneven.
Many countries were unlikely to meet the goal adopted by world leaders at the UN in 2000, said the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
“Those (countries) that have experienced conflict during the past two decades are more likely to have seen significant setbacks in reducing hunger,” the report said. “Landlocked countries face persistent challenges in accessing world markets, while countries with poor infrastructure and weak institutions face additional constraints.”
The agencies define undernourishment, or hunger, in the “State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013” report as “not having enough food for an active and healthy life” and an inability to “meet dietary energy requirements.”
Policies aimed at boosting agricultural productivity and food availability were crucial in reducing hunger even where poverty was widespread, they said. “When they are combined with social protection and other measures that increase the incomes of poor families to buy food, they can have an even more positive (effect) and spur rural development.”
The vast majority of people suffering hunger — 827 million — live in developing countries.
In Africa, the undernourished number one in five people, while most of the undernourished are in southern Asia.
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