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The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 - Executive Summary

Economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of hunger and malnutrition










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    Book (series)
    The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012
    Economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of hunger and malnutrition
    2012
    The 2012 edition of The State of Food Insecurity in the World focuses on the importance of economic growth in overcoming poverty, hunger and malnutrition. We are pleased to note that many, though not all, developing countries have enjoyed remarkable rates of growth during recent decades. High growth rates of GDP per capita are a key factor in reducing food insecurity and malnutrition. However, economic growth per se does not guarantee success. As Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen stated recently, it "r equires active public policies to ensure that the fruits of economic growth are widely shared, and also requires - and this is very important - making good use of the public revenue generated by fast economic growth for social services, especially for public healthcare and public education."� This report provides convincing evidence that poor, hungry and malnourished people use some of their additional income either to produce or purchase more food, aiming to increase their dietary ener gy intake and to diversify their diets. Against this background, we are glad to note significant improvements in food security and nutrition outcomes worldwide. The trend in the prevalence of undernourishment has been declining, and we have seen some progress in key anthropometric indicators of child underweight, stunting and nutrition-related child mortality. There has also been progress in overcoming some types of micronutrient deficiencies or 'hidden hunger'� in a number of countries. These e ncouraging developments are made possible by the combined effects of increased attention to world hunger, overall economic and agricultural growth, and targeted policy interventions.
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    Book (series)
    The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010
    Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises
    2010
    Following more than a decade of seemingly inexorable increases in the number of undernourished people, estimates for 2010 presented in this edition of The State of Food Insecurity in the World show a slight glimmer of hope, with the first fall since 1995. But that still leaves nearly a billion people going hungry, and it is too early to know if this is the beginning of a downward trend or merely a momentary dip in the number of undernourished. This year, The State of Food Insecurity in the World focuses on a particular group of countries, countries in protracted crisis, where levels of undernourishment are estimated to be at almost 40 percent. It examines the difficulties faced in trying to turn around the situation in such countries, not least the difficulty of moving beyond the mindset of humanitarian intervention towards a broader-based development agenda.
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    Book (series)
    The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008
    High food prices and food security – threats and opportunities
    2008
    The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008 represents FAO’s ninth progress report on world hunger since the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS). In previous editions, FAO has expressed deep concern over the lack of progress in reducing the number of hungry people in the world, which has remained persistently high. This year’s report focuses on high food prices, which are having a serious impact on the poorest populations in the world,drastically reducing their already low purchasing power. High foo d prices have increased levels of food deprivation, while placing tremendous pressure on achieving internationally agreed goals on hunger by 2015. This report also examines how high food prices present an opportunity to relaunch smallholder agriculture in the developing world.

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