World's hunger problem on the rise, says UN report

[pandorea]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091014/world_hunger_091014/20091014?hub=World

By: CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Wed. Oct. 14 2009 2:17 PM ET

A UN food agency warned Wednesday that the world's hunger problem is steadily growing worse in the face of declining aid and investment in agriculture.

The current food system needs to be reformed if the international community is to achieve its goal of drastically reducing the number of hungry people in the world by 2015, The UN Food and Agricultural Agency warned in a report.

The report, titled "State of Food Insecurity," was released ahead of World Food Day which falls on October 16.

It says the economic downturn plus the soaring cost of food has hit impoverished countries the hardest and has contributed to the rise in the number of people starving from 963 million in 2008.

"World leaders have reacted forcefully to the financial and economic crisis and succeeded in mobilizing billions of dollars in a short time period," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf in a news release.

"The same strong action is needed now to combat hunger and poverty."

The number of people in the world who are undernourished began steadily climbing in 1995 and surpassed the billion-number mark in June in the midst of the global financial meltdown.

The international community made strides in the 1980s and early 1990s in their efforts to combat hunger. But it was hampered by what ended up being a long-term trend of a decline in private investments for agriculture as well as a decline in the amount of world aid being allocated towards the food industry.

"In the fight against hunger the focus should be on increasing food production," Diouf said. "It's common sense ... that agriculture would be given the priority, but the opposite has happened."

High food prices

In 1980, 17 per cent of aid funds donated by countries around the world went directly to agriculture. By 2006, that number plunged to 3.8 per cent. It has only slightly improved in the last three years, Diouf said in an interview with The Associated Press.

High food prices could have contributed in the drop, mused FAO economist David Dawe. He said aid funds and investment dollars could have been reallocated for competing causes such as emergency relief, debt reduction and population control.

The soaring cost of food in 2007 and 2008 hit the undernourished hard as poor families had to cut down on their produce purchases as well as health and education spending.

Food costs have since stabilized but they are still considered to be high, especially in impoverished countries, Diouf said.

Developing countries have had to deal with a sharp reduction in export earnings, foreign investment, development aid and remittances which has reduced employment opportunities for its residents and has strapped the government's ability to provide programs that promote growth and support.

Eric Munoz, an advocate with Christian-based charity Bread for World, said that there have been strong indications on the ground that the hunger situation is deepening.

"We know from anecdotal evidence from the country level that hunger and poverty were already increasing last year before the economic crisis really began to affect poor countries so this is just confirmation of what we've already known," he said in an interview with CTV News Channel Wednesday afternoon.

Asia, Africa worst off

Munoz said at a household level, hunger is about not having enough food to eat but for children and women, the implications are much greater.

"For children, hunger is really about malnutrition, about the kinds of deficiencies in vitamins and minerals and not getting the right foods to eat that are critical for a young child's growth and development or the overall health of a pregnant women or a mother," he said.

The report concludes that 30 countries now require emergency food assistance -- 20 of which are located in Africa. The most affected countries continue to be the one with the highest populations.

Asia and the Pacific recorded the most hungry people at 642 million followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with 265 million undernourished residents.

"The current crisis is historically unprecedented" the new report says. "With developing countries today more financially and commercially integrated into the world economy than they were 20 years ago, they are far more exposed to shocks in international markets."

Diouf hailed a new goal set during the summer's G8 summit in Italy as a positive step towards battling hunger. World leaders committed to raising $20 billion to help spur production on farms in poor countries. This goal marks a shift on previous traditions of simply delivering food aid.

However, the report says that global food production will have to increase by 70 per cent if the world hopes to adequately feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050. That would mean giving $44 billion yearly to poor countries to fund agriculture growth compared to the $7.9 billion they currently receive.

The money would go towards increasing access to irrigation systems, buying modern machinery, building roads and training farmers.

Munoz said he's concerned about the international community's commitment to the cause.

"I think we're getting mixed signals right now," he said. "While budgets are very tight, it's not clear that the money that has been pledged will actually come through and make a difference to the people on the ground.

"On the other hand, there have been some very positive signs that the world's wealthy countries recognize the plight of poor people in developing countries and are stepping up to the plate to try to implement some of the kinds of changes that are really needed to help poor people," he added.

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and another news

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32534&Cr=hunger&Cr1

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From the evening news on Danish TV yesterday, it said the majority of people go hungry is in Asia.

[pandorea]

Read "Global Hunger Index 2009" here

http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ghi09.pdf

[pandorea]

From page 25 of Global Hunger Index 2009

"South Asia. South Asian countries have some of the highest levels of

hunger and gender inequality worldwide. Of the five South Asian countries

included in the analysis, three ranked in the bottom quartile for

three of the four 2008 Gender Gap Index subindices ? economic participation,

educational attainment, and health and survival ? reflecting

low levels of gender equality. Similarly, all but one of the South Asian

countries ranked in the top quartile for hunger, showing that high levels

of hunger and gender inequality go hand in hand. Sri

Lanka appears to be the regional exception to the rule, with a much

lower 2009 GHI and a much higher 2008 Gender Gap Index than in

other countries in the region.

Gender inequality in education is clearly a concern. Among the

countries in South Asia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the only ones

that have succeeded in achieving the Millennium Development Goal

(MDG) target of gender parity in primary and secondary education enrollment

rates (World Bank 2007). Gender inequalities in literacy are

also widely prevalent in the region. Thus, as gender gaps in educational

attainment increase across countries in the region, the 2009 GHI

scores tend to increase. This regional finding supports the global relationship

between gender inequalities related to access to and opportunities

for education and the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition."

[PJack]

the problem with feeding people is they eat and then the next day they are hungry again. there is just no end to it all. and I am not sure but I have seen so many fat people in the States and it stands to reason they are eating way more than they should be. Someone should tell Obama.

[CiaranM]

the problem with feeding people is they eat and then the next day they are hungry again. there is just no end to it all. and I am not sure but I have seen so many fat people in the States and it stands to reason they are eating way more than they should be. Someone should tell Obama.

i remember reading a report last year stating that between 25 to 30% of the food bought in the UK/Ireland was wasted .... i'm guessing the figure for the US will be something similar !!!

plenty of food to go around ... just not the drive or want to distribute it more fairly !!!

[pandorea]

the problem with feeding people is they eat and then the next day they are hungry again. there is just no end to it all.

True!!

but I think the problem is, some people haven't got enough money to buy food the next day or they spend it on something unnecessary.

[Mister Moobs]

Perhaps, the UN should be teaching self sufficiency rather than feeding folks. Teach them how to feed themselves again.

How a conversation goes from world hunger to American obesity is beyond me. Get over it.

Why is the want or drive to distribute "more fairly" the problem.

The problem is dependency on outside aid and development. Too many people sitting around waiting for someone else to feed them. Get up and do something for yourself. It will go a long way further towards maintaining one's self and one's family than waiting in line to receive a bag of rice.

The aid of the UN ends up in the hands of despots and thugs more often than in the hands of those for whom it is intended. Billions of dollars go for food aid to these countries. If a dollar a day can feed a family of four as some of these Aid organization state. Where is all of this money going to? Kofi Annan's sons pockets?

[beej]

Perhaps, the UN should be teaching self sufficiency rather than feeding folks. Teach them how to feed themselves again.

How a conversation goes from world hunger to American obesity is beyond me. Get over it.

Why is the want or drive to distribute "more fairly" the problem.

The problem is dependency on outside aid and development. Too many people sitting around waiting for someone else to feed them. Get up and do something for yourself. It will go a long way further towards maintaining one's self and one's family than waiting in line to receive a bag of rice.

A lot of the time its harder than that, ''back in the day'' people would migrate to an area with water in times of hard famine and drought, but with modern boarders, intensive farming and land ownership its now impossible for everyone to live from the land.

Aid from rich bountiful countries is needed, after all we've suck the world dry to begin with.

[Mister Moobs]

beej, I don't disagree with that.

There has to be a way to make these folks independent though.

And there has to be a way to limit the power/corruption of the despots and tyrants who steal Aid to line their own pockets.

Without invading or violent conflict.

[beej]

I doubt there is a way, and it can only get worse.

[Mister Moobs]

I think it's time for America to back off and let people of other countries handle their own problems. We get beat up about it no matter if we are right or wrong.

People even complain about our actions in World War II.

Time for the world to solve their own problems. I'm not seeking isolation. Just a modification of foreign policy that takes a less active role.

I think Europe needs to step up in her own backyard.

[beej]

People even complain about our actions in World War II.

.

Thats because Tom Hanks was in it!

[Mister Moobs]

I love that movie

actually took a girl with me

hey she was in the Army and it was her idea to go

figured she could take it

she spent the first half hour of the movie with her head hiding under my arm

I thought it was funny as hell

she looked traumatized after the movie

[PeeMarc]

I think charts like this can be a bit misleading.

In 2001 the total population of the world was about 6.1 billion. By now, there are just under 7 billion.

This means, according to this chart, that in 2001 a little more than 1 in 7 people on earth were hungry. But.... by 2009 it is still around 1 in 7 people hungry.

I'm NOT saying this is a happy state of affairs and I wish there were far less hungry. I'm just saying that the chart makes the problem look more dramatic than it actually is... by proportion of people... the situation has not, in fact, become worse.

[beej]

Can I blame the Jews?

[PeeMarc]

Can I blame the Jews?

have they been hoarding all the food?

[beej]

Can I blame the Jews?

have they been hoarding all the food?

I don't know but you better not be keeping any pineapple on sticks from me tomorrow!

[PeeMarc]

Can I blame the Jews?

have they been hoarding all the food?

I don't know but you better not be keeping any pineapple on sticks from me tomorrow!

nah... bits of cabanossi with cheap cheddar on toothpicks... washed down with a cheeky chateaux cardboard is de rigueur for this motley crowd.

[LakeGeneve]

I think charts like this can be a bit misleading.

In 2001 the total population of the world was about 6.1 billion. By now, there are just under 7 billion.

Are we really at 7 billion!? Wow, I thought it was about 6.4 billion. Cannot really imagine that the worlds pop grew by nearly a billion in just under a decade?

[PeeMarc]

I think charts like this can be a bit misleading.

In 2001 the total population of the world was about 6.1 billion. By now, there are just under 7 billion.

Are we really at 7 billion!? Wow, I thought it was about 6.4 billion. Cannot really imagine that the worlds pop grew by nearly a billion in just under a decade?

According to wiki, as of today we are 6.791 billion... like i said... just under 7 billion. A decade ago, we were just under 6 billion.

[condotown]

That is why I stay single... Soon sex for a sandwich will be even more widespread.

Why should sex for a bit of food be just the domain of the U.N. and other NGO's?

[Stramash]

therefore get rid of the too many people.

marburg or ebola should do it.

anyone know a disgruntled USAAMRID or CDC employee?

[eagle]

So I guess bring back nukes......f*ck it :shock:

[beej]

Why should sex for a bit of food be just the domain of the U.N. and other NGO's?

You have no idea just how real this is.

[eagle]

Why should sex for a bit of food be just the domain of the U.N. and other NGO's?

You have no idea just how real this is.

I read 17,000 UN peacekeeping troops in Liberia alone. What a twisted mess it must be. Power does corrupt on all levels..