Biotech Updates

FAO: Less People are Starving in 2013

November 13, 2013

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) 2013 report on Food Insecurity, the number of people estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger that hinders active life has decreased from 868 million in 2010-2012 to 842 million in 2011-2013. The FAO added that the total number of undernourished has fallen by 17 percent since 1990–92.

Despite overall progress, however, FAO stressed that marked differences across regions still persist. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment, with modest progress in recent years; Western Asia shows no progress; while Southern Asia and Northern Africa show slow progress .

FAO added that long-term commitment to mainstreaming food security and nutrition in public policies and programmes is key to hunger reduction. Keeping food security and agriculture high on the development agenda, through comprehensive reforms, improvements in the investment climate, supported by sustained social protection, is crucial for achieving major reductions in poverty and undernourishment.

See FAO's full report at http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3434e/i3434e.pdf.    The report's executive summary is available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3458e/i3458e.pdf.