FAO report published on 27th May, shows a decrease of around 200 million hungry people in the world compared to the 1990 Report, which listed the global objectives now achieved (“State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015”).
World hunger: more than a result a trend towards the eradication of it
The Report describes the progress made as a significant result, not only because of the result itself, but because it shows a steady trend towards the eradication of hunger, despite the increased growth of the world population (The New York Times, 27 May 2015). Until now, the idea has prevailed that hunger can only be reduced globally by reducing the world population, but data from this report show that this is not the case.
Other factors to take into account, in order to sufficiently appreciate these major achievements, are institutional instability, wars with their devastating effects in many countries, and the number of displaced persons, which has been the highest figure recorded since the Second World War.
Key to continue reducing world hunger
The Report recognises that the key to success in the fight against hunger is to offer the poorest men and women the means to include themselves in economic growth, “to improve agriculture productivity” and “fulfil their potential”.
The Report continues by expounding the main idea for setting future goals, stating that : “Public policy that gives small farm owners access to technological innovations in agriculture and that takes into account the diversity of family farms in terms of size, technology used, and market integration, go a long way toward ending hunger”.
Finally, we would like to quote Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO, an independent entity of the UN and co-writer of this Report, who delivered an encouraging statement, saying that: “The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime.” (World/Global News Blog, 27 May 2015).
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