To inform the public, media and policymakers about the current State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has published 2022 In Brief version of their flagship report.
According to the report, the World hunger rate increased in 2021 as a result of heightened disparities between and within nations. The prevalence of undernourishment (PoU), which had been essentially constant since 2015, increased from 8.0 to 9.3 percent from 2019 to 2020 and then increased more slowly to 9.8 percent in 2021.
828 million people in the world faced hunger in 2021, with Africa suffering the most. 278 million Africans experienced hunger in 2021, and the gender gap in food insecurity widened in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic cast a shadow over the continent.
In 2021, 31.9 percent of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure compared to 27.6 percent of men.
Measures to reduce hunger and reach the Zero Hunger target by 2030 have hit a setback, with the global rate of hunger rising even more in 2021 after a significant increase in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data reveals persistent regional disparities, with Africa bearing the heaviest burden. One in five people in Africa (20.2 percent of the population) was facing hunger in 2021, compared to 9.1 percent in Asia, 8.6 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 5.8 percent in Oceania, and less than 2.5 percent in Northern America and Europe. After increasing from 2019 to 2020 in most of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to new projections, the number of undernourished people suggest that nearly 670 million people will still be undernourished in 2030 with 78 million more than in a scenario in which the pandemic had not occurred.
Another crisis is that the war in Ukraine will have multiple implications on world agricultural markets through trade, production, and price channels, raising questions on the future state of food security and nutrition for many nations.
Africa has fertile land, and agriculture is important to the continent’s economy. Governments and individuals must focus and improve the number of benefits they provide to help food and agriculture.
This may bridge productivity gaps in the production of nutritious foods and enable income generation to improve the affordability of healthy diets.