The State of Food Insecurity in the World  2009

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009

Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned

Year of publication 2009

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 61 p.

Product type Book (series)

ISBN 9789251062883

Series title The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI)

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009 presents the latest statistics on global undernourishment and concludes that structural problems of underinvestment have impeded progress toward the World Food Summit goal and the first Millennium Development Goal hunger reduction target. This disappointing state of affairs has been exacerbated by first the food crisis and now the global economic crisis that, together, have increased the number of undernourished people in the world to mo re than one billion for the first time since 1970. The report describes the transmission channels through which the economic crisis has affected developing countries and presents a series of country case studies that show how the poor are struggling to cope with a severe shock that is not of their own making. This crisis is different from the crises developing countries have experienced in the past, because it is affecting the entire world simultaneously, because it comes on top of a food crisis that has already strained the coping mechanisms of the poor, and because developing countries today are more integrated into the global economy than in past decades. In the context of the enormous financial pressures faced by governments, the twin-track approach remains an effective way to address growing levels of hunger in the world. Stepping up investment in the agriculture sector, especially for public goods, will be critical if hunger is to be eradicated. In additio n, safety nets designed to protect the most poor and food-insecure are an essential complement to such investment because the poorest should be given the opportunity to feed themselves now, even if the full impact of longer-term investment has not yet been realized.

Language English

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Now in its third issue, The State of Food Insecurity in the World reports on global and national efforts to reach the goal set by the 1996 World Food Summit: to reduce by half the number of undernourished people in the world by the year 2015. The crafters of the Summit Plan of Action felt that great progress could be made towards this objective if countries could focus on the following three questions: Who are the food-insecure? Where are they located? Why are they food-insecure? These thr ee questions form the subject of the first section of this year's report. Entitled Undernourishment around the world, it provides FAO's most recent estimates of the prevalence of undernourishment and the absolute number of undernourished in 125 countries for the period 1997-99. The section "Assessing nutritional status and vulnerability" describes practical methods that have either been used in the past or are currently being developed in different countries to identify segments of the populatio n exhibiting physical signs of malnutrition and, subsequently, to analyse the livelihoods of the people concerned so as to address the income risks underlying their vulnerability. These patterns of hunger and vulnerability are greatly complicated by continuing severe national shocks from natural and human-induced disasters and from the ballooning menace of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The section of "The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2001, Action against undernutrition and poverty," provid es some illustrative answers to a fourth question: What can be done? Among the actions proposed are the more accurate targeting of food aid, and measures to improve access to clean water - both essential factors for assuring people the basic energy and health to participate in creating a better future for themselves.
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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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The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008
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Arabic
Chinese
French
Russian
Spanish

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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.