The first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) aims to halve the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 2015. Achieving this is essential to the success of the other MDGs.

South America and the Caribbean are set to achieve this target, with the Asia-Pacific region also having a good chance of reaching the MDG target. However, hunger in sub-Saharan Africa is decreasing very slowly, and although the prevalence of hunger in the Western Asia and North Africa is low, it is increasing.

Hunger is the basic cause of more than half of all child deaths and increases the threat of maternal deaths during pregnancy and childbirth. It also damages people’s immune systems, increasing the risk of HIV/AIDS and malaria. Research from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) argues that progress in reducing hunger is the driving force for the other MDGs to be achieved.

Progress towards other MDG targets is slowest where hunger and malnutrition are widespread. Of the 16 countries where more than 35 percent of the population are hungry, only four are making progress towards achieving their targets - Congo, Angola, Haiti and Mozambique. Under-nourishment is unchanged or increasing in the other 12 countries, with the worst situations in Burundi, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The fight to eliminate hunger is most important in rural areas, where the vast majority of the world’s hungry people live. The research shows:

• Growth in the rural and agricultural sector of developing countries has a much greater impact in reducing hunger than urban and industrial growth.
• However, it takes longer for economic growth to help reduce hunger than for improved nutrition to stimulate economic growth.
• Poverty falls faster and farther when growth occurs in places with a stable political situation, low levels of corruption and where farm productivity and literacy rates are high. Reducing hunger is essential to improving school attendance and children’s learning.
• Studies from China and India show that new roads are the best investment for reducing hunger and poverty. They improve the supply of inputs such as seeds and fertilisers and enable farmers to sell their crops in markets.

An approach developed by the FAO and its partners looks to strengthen the productivity and incomes of poor, hungry people while still providing direct access to food support programmes. Using this approach, countries must:

• build local institutions that provide people with skills and strengthen legal rights and access to resources
• empower women, indigenous people and vulnerable groups with stronger rights to land and other resources
• prioritise areas where a high proportion of people suffer from hunger and extreme poverty
• promote the sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture
• improve rural infrastructure and access to markets, especially for smallholder agriculture and micro-enterprises in which rural women play a major role
• improve urban livelihoods with programmes that increase employment opportunities
• introduce policies that encourage a fair and open international trading system, with special attention to improving market access and reducing export subsidies.

Source(s):
‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005: Eradicating World Hunger – key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals’, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

id21 Research Highlight: 31 March 2006

Further Information:
Nick Parsons
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 Rome
Italy

Tel: +39 06 570 53276
Contact the contributor: nick.parsons@fao.org

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

Other related links:
id21 insights #61 'Achieving food security: what next for sub-Saharan Africa?'

'How to halve hunger - achieving the first Millennium Development Goal'

'Agriculture, food systems and the Millennium Development Goals'

'Changing agricultural support services to improve food security'

'Achieving food security: what next for sub-Saharan Africa?'