1.02 billion people to go hungry
in 2009
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh,Ghanadot
Accra, June 25, 2009 - World
hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1
020 million people going hungry every day, according to new
estimates published by FAO today.
The most recent increase in the
hunger rate is not the consequence
of poor global harvests but is caused by the
current world economic crisis that
has resulted in lower incomes and increased unemployment.
This has reduced access to food for
the poor, the UN agency said.
"A dangerous mix of the global economic slowdown combined
with stubbornly high food prices in many countries has
pushed some 100 million more people than last year into
chronic hunger and poverty," said FAO Director-General
Jacques Diouf.
"The silent hunger crisis — affecting one
sixth of all of humanity — poses a serious risk for world
peace and security. We urgently need to forge a broad
consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in
the world and to take the necessary actions."
"The present situation of world food insecurity cannot leave
us indifferent," he added.
Poor countries, Diouf stressed, "must be given the
development, economic and policy tools required to boost
their agricultural production and productivity. Investment
in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of
poor countries a healthy agricultural sector is essential to
overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for
overall economic growth."
"Many of the world's poor and hungry are smallholder farmers
in developing countries. Yet they have the potential not
only to meet their own needs but to boost food security and
catalyse broader economic growth. To unleash this potential
and reduce the number of hungry people in the world,
governments, supported by the international community, need
to protect core investments in agriculture so that
smallholder farmers have access not only to seeds and
fertilisers but to tailored technologies, infrastructure,
rural finance, and markets," said Kanayo F. Nwanze,
President of the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD).
"For most developing countries there is little doubt that
investing in smallholder agriculture is the most sustainable
safety net, particularly during a time of global economic
crisis," Nwanze added.
"The rapid march of urgent hunger continues to unleash an
enormous humanitarian crisis. The world must pull together
to ensure emergency needs are met as long term solutions are
advanced," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the
UN World Food Programme.
Hunger on the rise.
Whereas good progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in
the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, hunger has been
slowly but steadily on the rise for the past decade, FAO
said. The number of hungry people increased between 1995-97
and 2004-06 in all regions except Latin America and the
Caribbean. But even in this region, gains in hunger
reduction have been reversed as a result of high food prices
and the current global economic downturn.
This year, mainly due to the shocks of the economic crisis
combined with often high national food prices, the number of
hungry people is expected to grow overall by about 11
percent, FAO projects, drawing on analysis by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Almost all of the world's undernourished live in developing
countries. In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 642 million
people are suffering from chronic hunger; in Sub-Saharan
Africa 265 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean 53
million; in the Near East and North Africa 42 million; and
in developed countries 15 million in total.
In the grip of the crisis
The urban poor will probably face the most severe problems
in coping with the global recession, because lower export
demand and reduced foreign direct investment are more likely
to hit urban jobs harder. But rural areas will not be
spared. Millions of urban migrants will have to return to
the countryside, forcing the rural poor to share the burden
in many cases.
Some developing countries are also struggling with the fact
that money transfers (remittances) sent from migrants back
home have declined substantially this year, causing the loss
of foreign exchange and household income. Reduced
remittances and a projected decline in official development
assistance will further limit the ability of countries to
access capital for sustaining production and creating safety
nets and social protection schemes for the poor.
Unlike previous crises, developing countries have less room
to adjust to the deteriorating economic conditions, because
the turmoil is affecting practically all parts of the world
more or less simultaneously.
The scope for remedial mechanisms, including
exchange-rate depreciation and borrowing from international
capital markets for example, to adjust to macroeconomic
shocks, is more limited in a global crisis.
The economic crisis also comes on the heel of the food and
fuel crisis of 2006-08. While food prices in world markets
declined over the past months, domestic prices in developing
countries came down more slowly. They remained on average 24
percent higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to
2006. For poor consumers, who spend up to 60 percent of
their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction
in their effective purchasing power. It should also be noted
that while they declined, international food commodity
prices are still 24 percent higher than in 2006 and 33
percent higher than in 2005.
Meanwhile, the 2009 hunger report (The State of Food
Insecurity in the World, SOFI) will be presented in October.
Ghanadot
