Rome, Italy
June 19, 2009
One sixth of humanity
undernourished - more than ever before
World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with
1 020 million people going hungry every day, according to new
estimates published by FAO
today.
The most recent increase in hunger is not the consequence of
poor global harvests but is caused by the world economic crisis
that has resulted in lower incomes and increased unemployment.
This has reduced access to food by the poor, the UN agency said.
"A dangerous mix of the global economic slowdown combined with
stubbornly high food prices in many countries has pushed some
100 million more people than last year into chronic hunger and
poverty," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. "The silent
hunger crisis — affecting one sixth of all of humanity — poses a
serious risk for world peace and security. We urgently need to
forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of
hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions."
"The present situation of world food insecurity cannot leave us
indifferent," he added.
Poor countries, Diouf stressed, "must be given the development,
economic and policy tools required to boost their agricultural
production and productivity. Investment in agriculture must be
increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy
agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger
and is a pre-requisite for overall economic growth."
"Many of the world's poor and hungry are smallholder farmers in
developing countries. Yet they have the potential not only to
meet their own needs but to boost food security and catalyse
broader economic growth. To unleash this potential and reduce
the number of hungry people in the world, governments, supported
by the international community, need to protect core investments
in agriculture so that smallholder farmers have access not only
to seeds and fertilisers but to tailored technologies,
infrastructure, rural finance, and markets," said Kanayo F.
Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD).
"For most developing countries there is little doubt that
investing in smallholder agriculture is the most sustainable
safety net, particularly during a time of global economic
crisis," Nwanze added.
"The rapid march of urgent hunger continues to unleash an
enormous humanitarian crisis. The world must pull together to
ensure emergency needs are met as long term solutions are
advanced," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN
World Food Programme.
Hunger on the rise
Whereas good progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in the
1980s and the first half of the 1990s, hunger has been slowly
but steadily on the rise for the past decade, FAO said. The
number of hungry people increased between 1995-97 and 2004-06 in
all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. But even in
this region, gains in hunger reduction have been reversed as a
result of high food prices and the current global economic
downturn (see
background note).
This year, mainly due to the shocks of the economic crisis
combined with often high national food prices, the number of
hungry people is expected to grow overall by about 11 percent,
FAO projects, drawing on analysis by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
Almost all of the world's undernourished live in developing
countries. In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 642 million
people are suffering from chronic hunger; in Sub-Saharan Africa
265 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean 53 million; in
the Near East and North Africa 42 million; and in developed
countries 15 million in total.
In the grip of the crisis
The urban poor will probably face the most severe problems in
coping with the global recession, because lower export demand
and reduced foreign direct investment are more likely to hit
urban jobs harder. But rural areas will not be spared. Millions
of urban migrants will have to return to the countryside,
forcing the rural poor to share the burden in many cases.
Some developing countries are also struggling with the fact that
money transfers (remittances) sent from migrants back home have
declined substantially this year, causing the loss of foreign
exchange and household income. Reduced remittances and a
projected decline in official development assistance will
further limit the ability of countries to access capital for
sustaining production and creating safety nets and social
protection schemes for the poor.
Unlike previous crises, developing countries have less room to
adjust to the deteriorating economic conditions, because the
turmoil is affecting practically all parts of the world more or
less simultaneously. The scope for remedial mechanisms,
including exchange-rate depreciation and borrowing from
international capital markets for example, to adjust to
macroeconomic shocks, is more limited in a global crisis.
The economic crisis also comes on the heel of the food and fuel
crisis of 2006-08. While food prices in world markets declined
over the past months, domestic prices in developing countries
came down more slowly. They remained on average 24 percent
higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to 2006. For
poor consumers, who spend up to 60 percent of their incomes on
staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective
purchasing power. It should also be noted that while they
declined, international food commodity prices are still 24
percent higher than in 2006 and 33 percent higher than in 2005.
The 2009 hunger report (The State of Food Insecurity in the
World, SOFI) will be presented in October. |
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