DHAKA: One in eight people around the world is chronically undernourished, the United Nations’ food agencies said on Tuesday, warning world leaders that some regions would fail in halving the number of hungry by 2015.

In their latest report on food insecurity, the UN agencies estimated that 842 million people were suffering chronic hunger in 2011-13, or 12 percent of the world’s population, down 17 percent from 1990-92.

The new figure was lower than the last estimate of 868 million in 2010-12 and 1.02 billion in 2009, but the report said progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goal to halve the prevalence of hunger in the world by 2015 was uneven.

Many countries were unlikely to meet the goal adopted by world leaders at the United Nations in 2000, said the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

‘Those (countries) that have experienced conflict during the past two decades are more likely to have seen significant setbacks in reducing hunger,’ the report said, according to The Jerusalem Post.

‘Landlocked countries face persistent challenges in accessing world markets, while countries with poor infrastructure and weak institutions face additional constraints.’

BDST: 2102 HRS, OCT 01, 2013
RoR/GCP