United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization calls for continued reduction of global hunger

A new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development confirms the positive trend of decreasing the number of hungry people in the world, but also emphasizes that the number of hungry people in the world still exceeds 800 million, equivalent to one ninth of the world's population.

The report, entitled The State of Food Insecurity in the World, states that there are more than 100 million fewer hungry people in the world than there were 10 years ago. Overall trends in reducing hunger in developing countries suggest that the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of undernourished people by next year is achievable if immediate action is taken to scale up the implementation of measures. To date, 63 developing countries have met the Millennium Development Goals, and another six are on track to meet them next year.

FAO Director-General Da Silva, WFP Executive Director Cousin and IFAD President Nwanze stated in the foreword to the report that "we have the capacity to fight hunger and countries should be encouraged to continue their efforts with the necessary assistance of the international community". They stressed that "accelerated, significant and sustained reductions in hunger are achievable with the necessary political commitment, but require full awareness of the challenges facing countries, relevant policy options, broad participation and other lessons learned".

The annual report noted rapid and visible improvements in access to food in countries with good overall economic development, particularly in East and South-East Asia; improvements were also observed in South Asia and Latin America, with Latin America and the Caribbean being the most successful region in improving food security. However, some regions and subregions are still lagging behind. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than a quarter of the population is chronically undernourished, while in Asia, the world's largest population, hunger is also highest, at 526 million. The prevalence of malnutrition in Oceania decreased only slightly, by approximately 1.7 per cent from 2012 to 2014, to 14 per cent, but there has been an overall increase in hunger since 1990.

Given that the number of undernourished people remains "unacceptably high," the report stresses the need to renew political commitment to hunger eradication and translate it into concrete action. The report states that food insecurity and malnutrition are complex problems that cannot be solved by a single sector or stakeholder, but require a coordinated multi-stakeholder response. FAO, WFP and IFAD therefore called on Governments to work closely with the private sector and civil society.

Furthermore, the report states that eradicating hunger requires an enabling environment and an integrated approach. Such approaches include public and private investment aimed at increasing agricultural productivity; improved access to land, services, technology and markets; and measures to promote rural development and social protection for the most vulnerable, such as strengthening their resilience to conflict and natural disasters.