|
|
Printer-friendly
format
Download PDF version
Email this page
Some Improvements Are Projected for Global Food Security
Shahla
Shapouri
Stacey Rosen
2004 © WFP/Nancy Palus
As we approach 2015, the milestone set by the World
Food Summit in 1996 to reduce global hunger by half, how close
are we? According to ERS projections, the number of people consuming
below the nutritional requirement is estimated to decline about
27 percent between 2004 and 2014. Performance by region varies significantly,
with the sharpest declines projected for the Asian and Latin American/Caribbean
regions, each at 46 percent. The number of people consuming below
the requirement is projected to increase in the Commonwealth of
Independent States, but that number relative to total population
will remain small. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a 15-percent increase
in the number of people with a consumption shortfall is projected.
Countries with the greatest improvements in terms of the projected
decline in percentage of undernourished people include India, Colombia,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, and Kenya. Because
India is the most populous of all the study countries (over 1 billion
in 2004), even a small decline in percentage terms translates into
a large decline in the number of hungry people. The number of undernourished
people in the country is projected to decline from 432 million to
123 million during the next decade. In most cases, the improvements
in the countries above are expected to be driven by higher export
earnings, which will result in higher food imports. For example,
in Colombia and El Salvador, these imports are projected to rise
at more than five times the rate of population growth. A similar
but less pronounced situation is projected for the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, and Peru.
In contrast to the success stories, there are several countries
where the number of hungry people is projected to rise over the
next decade. In countries like Afghanistan, North Korea, Nicaragua,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Angola, Guinea, and Somalia, deterioration
in food security is principally due to stagnant productive capacity.
As a result, the rise in the number of undernourished people will
mirror the rate of population increase. Of the countries cited above,
all but two are experiencing civil strife, further jeopardizing
food security. These countries are among the largest recipients
of food aid, but food aid is not expected to increase much to alter
the projections. The greatest food security challenge these countries
face is to restore peace and expand economic activities.
|
|
This article is drawn from...
|
|
Food Security Assessment,
by Shahla Shapouri, Stacey Rosen, Birgit Meade, Margriet Caswell,
David Schimmelpfennig, and Carl Pray, GFA-16, USDA, Economic Research
Service, April 2005.
|