Some 733 million people suffer from hunger in the world, warns the UN

The HIM warned this Tuesday of the increase since 2020 in the number of people suffering from hunger in the world, up to 733 million, due to factors such as an increase in conflicts or natural disasters derived from the climate crisis.

“A world without hunger is possible and within reach. “We have the technology and knowledge to defeat hunger, but we need the political will and the necessary investments,” said the director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Gerd Müller, in a statement from Addis Ababa. .

The capital of Ethiopia hosts the World Without Hunger Conference from this Tuesday until next Thursday, where that UN agency and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will present a study titled ‘Ending Hunger ‘it’s possible: A revenue-generating approach through value addition’.

“Our new UNIDO-FAO study presents a lasting solution to the hunger crisis, especially in the face of population growth. It is crucial that we make long-term strategic investments without delay,” Müller said.

The report shows practical solutions and investment opportunities to end hunger, although “there is still a long way to go to achieve the goal of zero hunger,” the institution admitted, predicting that “582 million people will still suffer from hunger in 2030 unless more investments are made”.

“Currently, it would cost an additional $540 billion (about €495.45 billion) to end hunger by 2030.largely through social protection programs. In 2020, it was estimated that it would cost 330,000 million dollars (about 302,775 million euros) to end hunger by 2030,” explained UNIDO.

This trend, according to the study, is due to factors such as high dependence on food imports, which makes countries more susceptible to variations in world prices.

Extreme and variable climatic situations have affected the production and availability of food, which has worsened the food crisis in regions that have suffered droughts or floods.

The solution that the organization proposes to end the problem of hunger is value addition, that is, combine the expansion of food production and provide economic means for the population to buy foodwhich allows production and consumption to be redistributed to where it is most needed.

To achieve this objective, according to the organization, it is necessary to invest in agricultural productivity through research, as well as in the mechanization of farms and the adoption of information and communication technology.

There also “remains a significant investment need to build and maintain irrigation, electricity, rural roads and storage infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses,” UNIDO added.

The proportion of the world’s population suffering from hunger had fallen by almost 50% since 1990, when it affected more than a billion people.

However, Numbers have increased dramatically since 2020 due to increased conflicts around the world, extreme weather events and supply chain disruptions.

“Sudan is on the verge of the worst famine in four decades, while climate change has caused severe droughts in the Horn of Africa and extreme weather events that affect crop yields in South Asia,” UNIDO exemplified.

FAO chief economist Máximo Torero warned that “the cost of inaction increases every day and affects not only finances but also lives.”

“We must act urgently and coordinate and prioritize investments to accelerate the transformation of the agri-food system,” added Torero.