The report, published yesterday (11 November), notes that while global hunger figures are rising, 31 out of 79 countries monitored by the UN agency have registered "a significant decline in the number of undernourished people since the early nineties".
Countries like Armenia, Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam, for example, are said to be "on track" to achieve the UN Millenium Development Goal of eradicating extreme hunger by 2015.
According to the UN, their success will stem from four common factors:
- The creation of an enabling environment for economic growth and personal wellbeing;
- investments in the rural poor and outreach to the most vulnerable;
- ensuring achievements are maintained and gains protected against threats like recession, disease or natural disasters, and;
- planning for a sustainable future by upgrading infrastructure and investing in rural development, for example.
In addition, the report notes that several developing countries have successfully transformed their agriculture sectors by turning them into significant sources of growth and export earnings. Algeria and Turkey, for example, have both managed to "significantly increase their agricultural exports" thanks to government policies to promote international trade.
The 'Pathways to Success' report concludes that the most economical and best way out of rural poverty and hunger is to support the efforts of smallholder farmers to improve their farming conditions and productivity. "Around 85% of the world's farms are smaller than two hectares and smallholder farmers and their families represent two billion people, or one-third of the world's population," it stresses.
Private sector forum
Ahead of next week's World Summit on Food Security (16-18 November), business leaders from companies across the international food value chain are gathering in Rome to discuss the private sector's efforts to reduce food insecurity and eradicate world hunger.
The Private Sector Forum on world food security, taking place on 12-13 November, brings together leaders of companies like Nestlé, Syngenta, Unilever and Cargill.
The two-day forum sees business leaders discuss responsible company operations in developing countries, ways to improve productivity and reinforce public-private policy dialogue to eradicate hunger, and how to share ideas on innovative means of developing sustainable food value chains.
The forum, organised together with the UN Food and Agrcultural Organisation (FAO), provides a forum to exchange views on the challenges and possible drivers of a future food crisis and to identify concrete solutions to which companies can contribute. The forum is set to conclude with a business statement, which will be presented at the world summit next week.
In addition to the need to plan production and distribution in developing countries' fragmented food systems, the forum agenda notes that there are "sound business reasons" to include small-scale farmers and processors in the "farm-to-consumer value chain" in order to expand economic opportunities along entire food chains.
