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In the latest edition of its annual 'The State of Food Insecurity in the World' the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is among the "worst performers in terms of proportional change" of 98 countries analysed, where "there has been a considerable increase in the number of people suffering from undernutrition and other forms of deprivation".
It laments the fact that the DRC, which has been at civil war for over three years, is a potentially very rich country that has, nevertheless, seen its proportion of undernourished grow from 35 percent in 1990-92 to 64 percent in 1997-99.
The report notes that overall progress achieved in decreasing the number of undernourished in the developing world between 1990-92 and 1997-99 "hides sharply contrasting trends" in individual countries. Some countries have made outstanding progress, while some have moved forward more slowly or stood still. Still others, however, have suffered reverses, in most cases moderate but occasionally severe.
Over the past decade, the total number of chronically undernourished in the developing world has fallen by approximately 40 million but the average rate of decline has continued to slow, reaching only six million per year, compared with the eight million reported in the 1999 edition of the report. Consequently, the annual reduction required to reach the 1996 World Food Summit target - that of halving the number of hungry people by 2015 - has grown from 20 million to 22 million people per year. Hence the gap between reductions realised and reductions needed is widening. Continuing at the current rate, it would take more than 60 years to reach the target.
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf in his foreword writes that this report "conveys a mixed message: progress has been made in reducing the absolute number of hungry people in the world, but this is not happening fast enough to achieve the 1996 World Food Summit target. In light of the 'World Food Summit: Five Years Later' due to be held in November, Diouf hopes this latest report will "encourage national leaders to review as a matter of urgency the rate of improvement in food security and to take corrective action where needed".
The complete report can be found at http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/y1500e/y1500e00.htm
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
