• Agriculture for development

Agriculture for development

This is the tenth progress report on world hunger since the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS). It highlights that the food crisis has twinned with the economic crisis increasing the number of hungry people.

The global economic crisis had added another blow to the food-insecure and vulnerable. Before the 2009 financial crunch and 2008 food crisis, the FAO undernourishment data covering the world showed that the number of undernourished people had been stillincreasing slowly. 

The countries of the global south have faced reduced remittances, export earnings, foreign direct investment and foreign aid, leading to loss of employment and income. This loss of income is compounded by high food prices in the local markets of many the countries. This has led to the consumption of fewer meals and less-nutritious food, cut back on health and education expenses. The report says despite the financial constraints faced by governments around the world, agricultural investment and safety nets remain key parts of an effective response to reduce food insecurity both now and in the future. It reports on undernourishment around the world and isolates case studies of countries affected by the economic crisis. The report presents case studies that show how the economic crisis is affecting five countries and the poor people who live there. These include: Armenia, Bangladesh, Ghana , Nicaragua , Zambia.

The following are the key messages of the 2009 report:

• the WFS target of reducing the number of undernourished people by half will not be achieved if the trends persist
• FAO estimates that over 1 billion people are undernourished worldwide representing more hungry people than at any time since 1970. The increase in food insecurity is due high domestic food prices, lower incomes and increasing unemployment
• poor people reduce their dietary diversity and spending on essentials like education and health care because of the crises. This will create poverty traps and negatively affecting longer-term food security increasing infant mortality especially that of girls
  
• the expected decline in investment in agriculture must be avoided so that it can play its role as an engine of growth and poverty reduction in order to fight hunger. Attention must also be given to developing the rural non-farm sector in parallel with agriculture
• safety net interventions, which should be integrated in aid, should address the immediate impact on the vulnerable whilst also providing sustainable solutions to the underlying problems. Safety nets must enable recipients to become more credit-worthy and able to access modern inputs and adopt new technologies
  
• to lift themselves out of hunger, the food-insecure need control over resources, access to opportunities, and improved governance at the international, national and local levels.

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