The never-ended world war

2009 is going to be the year in which hunger will reach an historic high, FAO reported. 100 million more people than last year are going to overstep the poverty line beyond which a person is considered underfed. One sixth of the humanity is undernourished. It means that 1.02 billion of people who we are supposed to share this world and its resources with, are hungry every day.

The reasons for that are mainly two. One the one hand, there’s the world economic crisis that has resulted in lower incomes and increased unemployment. On the other hand, prices of food have been increased during the last years. I found an interesting report published by BBC about the World service food price index. If you scroll down to the last graph, you can observe the world average food prices increasing. But it’s also interesting to see how different kinds of food have become more expensive in different countries.

I’m wondering why every time this issue comes out it has been repeated that the only solution is giving developing countries the tools to sustain themselves. This is what FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf affirmed two days ago: “poor countries must be given the development, economic and policy tools required to boost their agricultural production and productivity”. I’ve heard these words many times since I was very young, and now I read that 2009 is going to be remembered as one of the worst years for hunger in the world…

It has been estimated that 642 million of people are suffering from chronic hunger in Asia and the Pacific, 265 millon in Sub-Saharan, 53 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 42 million in the Near East and North Africa, and 15 million in developed countries.

The Expo 2015 that will be held in Milan will be focused on the issues of food and energy. The theme is “feeding the planet, energy for life”.

FAO report