World hunger falls to less than 800 million: UN report

The number of undernourished people in the world has decreased to 795 million people as per the latest annual UN hunger report.

The current number is a fall of 216 million people, compared to that during 1990 to 1992.

Titled the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 – SOFI, the report is jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The report cited improved agricultural productivity, economic growth and expansion of social protection as the primary reasons for the drop in world hunger.

FAO director general José Graziano da Silva said: "The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime.

"We must be the Zero Hunger generation. That goal should be mainstreamed into all policy interventions and at the heart of the new sustainable development agenda to be established this year."

Around 72 countries of the 129 monitored by FAO have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of decreasing undernourishment by the end of this year. 29 countries have been successful in halving the absolute number of undernourished people, a goal that had been set at the 1996 World Food Summit.

East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, southeast and central Asia and parts of Africa had been able to achieve substantial reductions in hunger. The report also noted that the political will to eradicate hunger had played an important role.

IFAD president Kanayo Nwanze said: "We must work to create a transformation in our rural communities so they provide decent jobs, decent conditions and decent opportunities.

"We must invest in rural areas so that our nations can have balanced growth and so that the three billion people who live in rural areas can fulfill their potential."

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Image: A woman farmer in The Gambia shows a dry tuft of rice in a drought period. Photo: courtesy of Food and Agriculture Organization.