Global Report on Food Crisis (GRFC) 2020 reports 2019 as the most vulnerable year of food crisis i.e 135 million people under crisis and worse phase. However, what’s more, calamitous is a simple stressor, and further 183 million people will suffer from hunger. Rather than food production, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) addresses the unbalanced food system as the reason for the increment in food insecurity. Hence, in this phase of COVID-19, FAO calls for innovative ideas to improve the food system, making vulnerable people more resistant to shock.
About 113 million people from 53 countries were under the food crisis in 2018, but this number increased by 22 million in 2019. During the 2019 assessment, a wide geographical extent was covered which added 11.4 million people this year. If this trend goes on, more than 840 million people will be affected by the hunger crisis by 2030.
Food insecurity is not just about the lack of secure access to sufficient food, but also includes a lack of nutritious food for proper body growth and healthy life. FAO estimated that around 2 billion people had no access to safe and nutritious food in 2019.
GRFC 2020 estimated some of the drivers of acute food insecurity as; Conflicts leading to forced displacement; economic shock; weather extremes including droughts, flood, and the untimely rainy season; health shock including epidemic and pandemic; crop’s pest and diseases; and natural hazards like earthquake, tsunami, and volcanic eruption.
There are still many data gaps and challenges which GRFC 2020 report has addressed. There is limited data available on food security for refugees and the frequency of national nutrition in some countries. Whereas in some other countries, it is still difficult to generate evidence of people under the food crisis. The underestimation of the number of vulnerable people is another problem.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has a goal of Zero Hunger; to reduce all forms of hunger by 2030. To check this rate of increasing food crisis, we should uplift ourselves from the pondering phase to an action plan and contribute from individual to state level. Increasing agricultural production with advanced technology is one concern along with that we should focus on helping farmers during the economic crash, sustainable production, and well and balanced food system.
In this year 2020, FAO calls for innovation actions in terms of food growth to design our future. “Our Actions Are Our Future: Grow A Variety Of Food To Nourish A Growing Population And Sustain The Planet, Together.”
FAO’s new report on food wastage estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of total edible food wastage out of 1.6 billion tonnes of primary productive equivalent.
A grain carelessly left in our food plate may be a grain of life for someone else. Let’s start from the individual level and create a home where no one remains hungry.
“Never Waste Food”
Comments are closed.