FAO Calls for Urgent Actions to Reverse the Rise in Hunger

With the recent increase in the number of hungry people globally, urgent actions are needed to overturn this condition, according to Jose Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He mentioned this during a meeting with the FAO Council on December 4, 2017 in Rome, Italy.

He stressed that the latest hunger figure of 815 million people is the first increase after over ten years of steady decrease. Furthermore, obesity and overweight statistics are also growing, in developed and developing countries, which is another area of concern in the current food systems.

"The most important thing to do now is to build the resilience of poor people to face the impacts of conflicts and climate change," making sure that humanitarian assistance is combined with development actions to chart a course towards the eradication of hunger by 2030, he said.

"This basically means new investments - I would say much more investments - from the public but also the private sector," Graziano da Silva said.

Read the news release from FAO.