According to the United Nations' annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report released on Wednesday, approximately 735 million people worldwide experienced chronic hunger in 2022. This alarming figure represents a significant increase from the pre- pandamic era and poses a severe threat to the global goal of ending hunger by 2030.
Although many countries have shown economic recovery from the pandemic, the report highlights that the multi-year upward trend in hunger rates stalled last year. The war in Ukraine and its subsequent impact on food and energy prices have offset some of the gains achieved.
As a result, an estimated 122 million more individuals suffered from hunger in 2022 compared to 2019, pushing the world "far off track" in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. Shockingly, the report projects that by 2030, 600 million people will be undernourished if the current trajectory persists.
Maximo Torero Cullen, the chief economist of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), expressed deep concern over the stabilizing high levels of hunger, stating that the stabilization of hunger at a high level is bad news. He highlighted the urgent need for global action to address this critical issue.
The report identifies several key drivers of the global hunger crisis in recent years. These include the disruption of livelihoods caused by conflicts, climate extremes that pose threats to agricultural production, and economic hardships exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. While hunger rates have declined in certain regions, such as South America and most parts of Asia, they continue to rise in the Caribbean, Western Asia, and Africa.
The report emphasizes the necessity of combining humanitarian aid with efforts to strengthen local food supply chains as a means to reverse this distressing trend. Kevin Mugenya, the food systems director for Mercy Corps, an international aid group, highlighted the significance of implementing localized solutions and expressed that countries should have localized solutions.
