Declining Global Food Security (i.e., increasing hunger)

It’s official. According to the USDA’s Food Security Assessment, 2007, the number of “food-insecure” people in 70 developing countries increased by 15 percent during 2007 – from 850 to 980 million. That’s another 130 million more individuals consuming less than 2,100 calories/day (the nutrition target set by the FAO) and subject to hunger, malnutrition and associated ills. This, after years of progress in reducing hunger in percentage if not absolute terms, particularly in Asia.

According to the USDA assessment, in 2002 the declining commodity prices of the last few decades changed direction. Grain prices jumped about 50 percent from 2005-07, and although some moderation is projected, prices are expected to remain at high levels in coming years. For poor people, who spend more than half of their disposable income on food, the impact is devastating. The recent oil price hikes add to the financial burden because the higher energy import bill puts further pressure on national budgets and can result in squeezing out imports of food.   

The “food distribution gap” for these 70 countries (the amount of food needed to raise consumption in each income group sufficient to meet the nutritional requirement at the aggregate, national level) is estimated at 44 million tons in 2007 – over five times the amount of food aid received by the countries in 2006. That amount is projected to steadily increase.

In other words, we’re losing ground. In spite of steadily increasing global prosperity, the poor and undernourished are continuing to grow in numbers, reflecting the growing global disparities between the “haves” and the “have-nots.” We’ll look at the just-concluded G-8’s response to this situation in a subsequent post.

Comments

[Frances Evans]

Thanks for this - cool blog