ROME – The three United Nations agencies dealing with nutrition issues said in a joint report on Tuesday, in Rome that the global hunger figure has fallen to 805 million in 2012 to 14, down from over a billion in 1990 to 92.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said at the 2014 edition of “The State of Food Insecurity in the World’’ that the figures confirmed a positive trend.
They said this has seen the number of hungry people decline globally by more than 100 million over the last decade and by more than 200 million since 1990-92.
They said this was now within reach “if appropriate and immediate efforts are stepped up.” [eap_ad_2] They analysed that in 1990 to 92, 23.4 per cent of the population in developing countries, was equal to 1.01 billion people were hungry.
They said in 2012-14, the proportion had fallen to 13.5 per cent, and was projected to drop to 12.8 per cent in 2015, against an MDG target of 11.7 per cent.
They listed the regions with the highest undernourishment rates to include Sub-Saharan Africa, with 23.8 per cent, the Caribbean has 20.1 per cent while Southern Asia has15.8 per cent.
The FAO, IFAD and WFP said 65 per cent of the hungry lived in Asia, the world’s most populous continent.
They said in 2000, the international community adopted the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including a commitment to halve the proportion of hungry people in the world in the period from 1990 to 2015.
They noted that the MDG hunger goal has already been met in East and South East Asia and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
They said, the Caucasus and Central Asia should make it by next year, while sub-Saharan Africa and Southern and Western Asia were said to be lagging behind.
They singled out the efforts of seven countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malawi and Yemen.
They said with their efforts, accelerated, substantial and sustainable hunger reduction was possible with the requisite political commitment. (dpa/NAN)[eap_ad_3]
