The Food and Agriculture Organization stands by its latest estimates of the number of undernourished people around the world but recognizes that the methodology it used to arrive at the figures can be improved, a senior economist of the organization said.
David Dawe, leader of the FAO technical team that handles the publication of annual global hunger and undernourishment statistics, was responding to a recent blog entry by New York University professor William Easterly. In his entry, Easterly questioned the validity of FAO’s hunger figures for 2009.
“That’s very good news, unless it didn’t happen,” Easterly wrote.
>> William Easterly Casts Doubt on FAO’s Latest Hunger Figures
In a letter to Easterly, which was published in “Aid Watch,” Dawe explained that it was only natural for methodologies used to construct global estimates to be “subject to many valid criticism.”
He added: “FAO is currently investing financial and human resources to improve our estimates of the number of undernourished people in the world. Constructive contributions to this effort are welcome.”
