October 16, 2000
The United Nations observed World Food Day today with calls for urgent action to combat hunger just as a new study by a UN agricultural agency showed no measurable improvement in the rate of decline in the number of undernourished people in the world. "We have no time to waste if we are to make the vision of a world free from hunger become a reality," Jacques Diouf, Executive Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said today during a ceremony marking the Day at the agency's headquarters in Rome. He said it was time to begin "aggressively pursuing" the goals set out at the 1996 World Food Summit and urged governments to work alongside inter- and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and civil society to reach those objectives.
Meanwhile, in its annual report released today simultaneously in seven cities in Asia, Africa, North America and Europe, FAO warned that unless extra efforts were made to accelerate progress, the Summit's goal of cutting the number of undernourished people to 400 million by 2015 would not be met before 2030. At present, some 826 million people still do not get enough to eat in a time of unprecedented plenty, according to FAO.
The study, titled "The State of Food Insecurity in the World" (SOFI 2000), states that the rate of decline in the number of undernourished people stood at slightly fewer than 8 million per year during the 1990s. Calling that rate "woefully inadequate," FAO said that a reduction of at least 20 million every year between now and 2015 would be needed to realize the Summit target. In terms of sheer numbers, the report showed more chronically hungry people in Asia. The depth of hunger, however, was the greatest in sub-Saharan Africa, where the undernourished had an average deficit of more than 300 kilocalories per person per day in 19 out of 46 countries, compared to only 3 out of 19 countries in Asia.
According to FAO, stable political conditions and institutions -- that build peace and offer a voice to all stakeholders -- play an important role in decreasing hunger rates when promoted together with increased investments for sustainable growth, social safety nets for vulnerable groups, and research targeted towards improving agricultural commodity production.
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