The world is moving backwards in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms, according to a new report.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report estimated that up to 828 million people or 10.5% of the global population faced hunger last year.
The document, published today (Wednesday, July 6) by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), stated that this is an increase of 150 million since 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report noted that the war in Ukraine will have “multiple implications for global agricultural markets” and will cast a shadow over food security and nutrition for many countries in the near future.
Hunger
One in five people in Africa faced hunger last year, compared to 9% in Asia, 8.6% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 6% in Oceania, and less than 2.5% in North America and Europe.
Updated projections forecast that 670 million people will still be undernourished in 2030.
Estimates for 2021 show that 2.3 billion people were moderately or severely food insecure, and 923.7 million faced severe food insecurity.
Last year, 32% of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure, compared to almost 28% of men.
The FAO noted that the effects of food price inflation as a result of the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic are “clear and significant”.
“Global consumer food prices were higher by the end of 2020 than they were during any month in the previous six years,” the report outlined.
This meant that the average cost of a healthy diet in 2020 increased for all regions of the world.
Almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, an increase of 112 million on the 2019 figure.
Food security
The FAO said that this year’s report “should dispel any lingering doubts that the world is moving backwards in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition”.
In order to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) set targets for 2030, the FAO said that healthy diets must be delivered at a lower cost.
Both the supply of “nutritious foods” and the consumption of them by consumers will need to increase.
The organisation also stated that most agricultural and food policy support is not aligned with promoting healthy diets and in many cases is undermining food security and nutrition outcomes.
“It is possible to allocate public budgets more cost-effectively and efficiently to help reduce the cost of healthy diets, thus improving their affordability, sustainably and inclusively, ensuring no one is left behind,” FAO stated.