UN officials say
more people than ever before are going hungry. And they blame it on the global economic
UN Food and
Agriculture Director-General Jacques Diouf says it is with "deep regret" that he
announces the new estimate for hungry people in the world.
"The number of
those suffering from chronic hunger in the world has topped one billion in
2009. One billion and 20 million to be more precise," he says.
Diouf says a
"dangerous mix" of the global economic slowdown and very high food prices
pushed another 100 million people into the hungry category over the past year.
nor floods or disastrous harvests can be held to blame this time. Worsening
hunger in the last three years largely stems from economic shocks," he says.
This includes the
global credit crunch, falling trade and investment flows, declining remittances
and budgetary pressures on development aid.
Poor hit hard
"The financial and
economic crisis is having a particularly profound impact on poor and rural households, specifically, the rural landless, the urban poor and the female-headed
households," he says.
The latest figures
show the number of hungry people in the Asia-Pacific region is up 10.5 percent.
In sub-Saharan Africa, there's an 11.8 percent increase. The Near East and
North Africa are up 13.5 percent. Latin America and the Caribbean show a 12.8
percent increase. Even developed countries are not immune, showing a nearly 15
and a half percent hike in the number of hungry people.
The FAO leader says
the world's food system is "fragile and vulnerable."
"The situation goes
beyond traditional humanitarian dimensions. It calls for a new world food
order," he says.
World Food Program
Executive Director Josette Sheeran warns, "Unless world leaders respond by
ensuring all people access to adequate and affordable nutrition, we are in
danger of losing a generation to malnutrition and despair."
Hungry world is a dangerous world
Sheeran says hunger
can help destabilize countries. Last year, high prices triggered food riots in
people have only three options: they riot, they migrate or they die. None of
these are acceptable options," she says.
She says having
enough food to eat is "one of the most critical peace and security issues of
"A hungry world is
a dangerous world. This is an issue that rightly belongs at the top of the
global agenda from the G8 to the G20, to the G77, to the (UN) General Assembly
and here, of course, at FAO and our Rome-based agencies," she says.
But Sheeran says
the good news is the world has the know-how to solve the problem. China, for
example, once a major recipient of WFP aid, now helps supply the agency with
Mathew Wyatt of the
International Fund for Agricultural Development says one of the best solutions
is investing in smallholder farming.
"About two billion
people in the world, that's about a third of humanity, depend on their
smallholder farms for their livelihoods and for their food. With the right
support, these farmers can double or triple their very meager yields and they
can then feed themselves and their families," he says.
Investment brings triple payoff
"First of all, it
boosts production. There is more food available. Secondly, because it's
production by some of the poorest people in the world, it directly reduces
poverty…. And thirdly… agriculture and smallholder agriculture can be an engine
of broader economic growth," he says.
The UN agency
officials call on donor nations to continue their aid to hungry people. But
they also say it is a time to lay the groundwork to solve the hunger problem
once and for all.