A STAGGERING 733 million people worldwide, including Zimbabweans, faced hunger in 2023, according to a new report released by five United Nations agencies.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report launched yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, warned that this posed a threat to the global thrust towards eradicating hunger by 2030.
Africa is the hardest hit, with the percentage of the population facing hunger rising to 20,4%, according to the report.
In Zimbabwe, the El Niño-induced drought has left over five million people in urgent need of food aid.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the drought a state of national disaster and appealed for US$3 billion for humanitarian assistance.
According to the UN report, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030, half of them in Africa.
United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund executive director Catherine Russell said children were the worst affected by the hunger crisis.
“Malnutrition affects a child’s survival, physical growth and brain development,” Russell said.
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“Global child stunting rates dropped by one third, or 55 million, in the last two decades, showing that investments in maternal and child nutrition pay off. We must urgently step up financing to end child malnutrition.”
Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) director-general Qu Dongyu said transforming agrifood systems was more critical than ever in the face of climate change.
“FAO remains committed to supporting countries in their efforts to eradicate hunger and ensure food security for all,” Qu said.
“Together, we must innovate and collaborate to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems that can better withstand future challenges for a better world."
International Fund for Agricultural Development president Alvaro Lario said the fastest route out of hunger and poverty was investment in agriculture in rural areas.
“Ending hunger and malnutrition demands that we invest more and more smartly. We must bring new money into the system from the private sector and recapture the pandemic-era appetite for ambitious global financial reform that gets cheaper financing to the countries who need it most,” Lario said.
World Food Programme (WFP) executive director Cindy McCain said a future free from hunger was possible.
“We have the technologies and know-how to end food insecurity, but we urgently need the funds to invest in them at scale,” McCain said.
“WFP is ready to step up our collaboration with governments and partners to tackle the root causes of hunger, strengthen social safety nets and support sustainable development so that every family can live in dignity.”
World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed similar sentiments, saying: “The progress we have made on reducing stunting and improving exclusive breastfeeding shows that the challenges we face are not insurmountable.
“We must use those gains as motivation to alleviate the suffering that millions of people around the world endure everyday from hunger, food insecurity, unhealthy diets and malnutrition.”
