A new edition of the annual The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009 report was released jointly today by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP). Subtitled “Economic Crises – Impact and lessons learned,” the report looks at the convergence of the recent global food crisis that hit the world from 2006-2008 and the global economic crisis that began in late 2007 and continues to affect financial markets as well as global food supplies today.
FAO estimates that due to the crisis, over 1.02 billion people were hungry in 2009 around the world.
To examine the “impact” of the crises. the report offers cases studies of Armenia, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nicaragua, and Zambia in order to show how the global economic crisis (which unlike other crises that affected one country or a region) affected all global markets, particularly impacting developing countries.
In presenting the “lessons learned,” the report recommends short-term solutions such as food safety-net programs to fight hunger and poverty. Long-term solutions include increased development aid, expertise sharing and new domestic policies to help the most vulnerable countries provide food more consistently and readily for their people.
