World Hunger Falls But 805 Mn Still Chronically Under-Nourished: FAO

Sustained political commitment is at the highest level, with food security and nutrition as top priorities, is a prerequisite for hunger eradication. The case studies of the SOFI 2014 report show that regions such as Africa and the Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as individual countries have strengthened their political commitment to food security and nutrition.

FAO emphasised that hunger reduction required an integrated approach, and needed to include: public and private investments to raise agricultural productivity; better access to inputs, land, services, technologies and markets; measures to promote rural development; social protection for the most vulnerable, including strengthening their resilience to conflicts and natural disasters; and specific nutrition programmes, particularly to address micronutrient deficiencies in mothers and children under five.

According to the SOFI 2014 report, China alone has reduced the number of undernourished people by 138 million in this period, while the 10 countries that have achieved greatest success in reducing the total number of hungry people in proportion to their national population are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cuba, Georgia, Ghana, Kuwait, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Thailand and Venezuela.

Despite this overall progress in developing countries as a whole, FAO says there is still considerable room to reduce undernourishment and improve food security.

SOFI 2014 shows that advances in reducing world hunger require political commitment expressed through appropriate policies, programmes, legal frameworks and sufficient resources. SOFI 2014 highlights examples of successful national efforts to reduce hunger, but also identifies factors that can act as bottlenecks to progress.

"Political commitment of governments is increasingly being translated into comprehensive and effective action, with strengthened engagement of non-state actors. These efforts are bringing the goal of achieving food security in our lifetime closer to reality," FAO Director-General Joss Graziano da Silva said in the new report.

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