WASHINGTON -- If current trends continue, world governments will be at least 35 years late in meeting their target of cutting hunger in half by 2015, as set in the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. These findings appear in the article by IFPRI researchers Mark W. Rosegrant and Sarah A. Cline in this week's issue of Science. The authors emphasize how the impact of climate change and HIV/AIDS on developing countries, as well as water scarcity and declining investment in research and infrastructure, will hamper agricultural development over the next 50 years.
The authors project that the number of malnourished preschool children in sub-Saharan Africa will actually increase between now and 2015. Globally, if current policies and investments continue, the share of malnourished children is projected to fall from 31 percent to 14 percent, but it will take a half-century to accomplish. The world's hungry children cannot wait that long.
Poverty and malnutrition could be significantly reduced through better policies for safety nets and increased investment for:- health, education, and nutrition;
- agricultural research;
- rural infrastructure;
- water resources
Developing countries need to increase agricultural productivity, and boost income and reduce poverty in the rural areas where most of the poor live. If we are to achieve the target set by the Millennium Development Goals, policymakers worldwide must immediately make food security a top priority.
Read the article in Science.
For more information, contact:
m.rubinstein@cgiar.org
Note to Editors: The article referred to in this statement is: "Global Food Security: Challenges and Policies," by Mark W. Rosegrant and Sarah A. Cline, Science, December 12, 2003.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI is one of 15 Future Harvest Centers and receives its principal funding from 58 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.