UN: with 735 million hungry people, the world is “far” from the goal for 2030

Around 735 million people around the world suffered from chronic hunger in 2022, many more than before the pandemic COVID-19threatening the global goal of ending hunger by 2030, he said Wednesday United Nations.

A multi-year upward trend in hunger rates leveled off last year as many countries recovered from the pandemic, but the war in Ukraine and its pressure on food and energy prices offset some gains, he said. the UN in its annual report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).

The result is that it is estimated that in 2022 there would be 122 million more hungry people than in 2019 and the world is “very far” of meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030, according to the report, which predicts that 600 million people will be undernourished by 2030.

“We are seeing hunger stabilizing at a high, which is bad news,” said Máximo Torero Cullen, chief economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in an interview with Reuters.

According to the report, the main causes of world hunger in recent years have been conflicts that have affected livelihoods, extreme weather conditions that have threatened agricultural production, and economic hardships exacerbated by the pandemic.

In some parts of the world hunger has decreased, such as in South America and in most parts of Asia. But in the Caribbean, Western Asia and Africa it is increasing.

To turn the tide, countries need to combine humanitarian aid with strengthening local food supply chains, Kevin Mugenya, director of food systems at Mercy Corps, an international aid group, said in an interview with Reuters.

“Countries need localized solutions”he added.

The report was prepared by the UN International Fund for Agricultural Developmentthe Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and FAO.

Fountain. Reuters