Despite all the efforts made by world leaders to reduce starvation globally, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said that the number of hungry people in the world has increased since 2015. The organization attributed the increase in global famine to climatic conditions and conflicts in Somalia and South Sudan, Nigeria, and Yemen.
The Food and Agriculture Organization announced that the increase in the number of hungry people in the world increased two years ago, which is a setback for the progress achieved over the years, noting that about 60 percent of the world’s hungry people live in areas affected by conflict and climate change.
The Director-General of FAO noted that progress had been made in combating the problems of poverty and hunger in recent decades. Still, such achievements are in danger of being reversed due to new challenges posed by conflict, population growth, climate change, and changing dietary patterns. More than 20 million people are threatened with hunger.
It is time to rethink how our food is grown, shared, and consumed.
And if we do it right, farms, forests, and fisheries can provide nutritious food for all and generate decent sources of income while supporting people-centered rural development and protecting the environment.
However, soils, freshwater, oceans, forests, and biodiversity rapidly degrade. Climate change puts additional pressure on the resources we depend on, increasing the risks associated with disasters such as droughts and floods. Many rural men and women can no longer make ends meet on their land, forcing them to migrate to the cities in search of opportunity.
A profound change in the global food and agricultural system is needed if we are to feed the 805 million hungry people today, with an additional 2 billion people expected by 2050.
The food and agriculture sector provides critical solutions for development and is central to eradicating hunger and poverty.
target purposes
End hunger and ensure that all, especially the poor and vulnerable, including infants, have access to sufficient safe and nutritious food all year round by 2030
End, by 2030, all forms of malnutrition, including achieving the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five and addressing the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons by 2025
Doubling the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists, and fishers, including by ensuring equal access to land, other productive resources, inputs, knowledge, financial services, market access, value-added opportunities, and access to Non-farm job opportunities, by 2030
Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement robust agricultural practices that increase productivity and yields, help maintain ecosystems, enhance resilience to climate change and cope with extreme weather, droughts, floods, and other disasters, and progressively improve land and soil quality, by 2030
Maintaining the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, domestic animals, and related wild species, including through soundly managed diverse origin and plant banks at the national, regional, and international levels, ensuring access to and sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic and related resources of TK fairly and equitably, as agreed upon internationally, by 2020
Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development, and animal and plant gene banks to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries
Preventing restrictions on trade and correcting distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures of similar effect, as mandated by the Doha Development Round
Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of commodity and derivative markets and to facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, to help reduce extreme price volatility
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