When the U.N. food and agriculture agencies — Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Program and International Fund for Agricultural Development — released their latest joint report on the state of food insecurity in the world, there seemed to be cause for celebration: Over the past decade, the number of hungry people worldwide dropped by 167 million to just under 800 million today.
But there is also cause for concern.
Protracted crises have been found to hamper progress in many countries that remain deep in conflict. About 19 percent of the world’s food-insecure people live in the 20 countries considered to be experiencing a protracted crisis. Of these countries, only Ethiopia has reached its Millennium Development Goal 1c target of reducing the percentage of its undernourished population by half. All the others have shown insufficient progress and in some cases even deterioration.
About the author
Elena L. Pasquini@elenapasquini
Elena Pasquini covers the development work of the European Union as well as various U.N. food and agricultural agencies for Devex News. Based in Rome, she also reports on Italy's aid reforms and attends the European Development Days and other events across Europe. She has interviewed top international development officials, including European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs. Elena has contributed to Italian and international magazines, newspapers and news portals since 1995.
