Author: Elaine Kultenbach
AP Business Writer
Bangkok (Associated Press)-A report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on December 15 stated that the ongoing pandemic and soaring prices are undermining the food security of millions of people in Asia, and 1.8 billion people do not have access to a healthy diet .
The report said that due to the efforts of governments to control the outbreak by restricting travel and other activities, the food supply situation has deteriorated in 2020 and the situation has further deteriorated this year.
As progress is made in alleviating stagnant hunger, FAO is urging comprehensive measures to improve food security as part of the approach to promoting what experts call “food systems”.
David Davy, senior economist at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said the organization’s food price index has risen by nearly a third in the past year. He said the price of vegetable oil, which is vital to health, soared 74%.
Rising global commodity prices have affected consumer costs. This is “another blow to the poor, who spend a large part of their income on food and are working to recover from the effects of COVID-19.” Dawei Say.
“After the initial impact of the pandemic, food producers are also facing recent challenges, including rising fuel and fertilizer prices,” he said.
The FAO report stated that a systemic transformation to improve food security needs to revolve around the needs of many other vulnerable groups such as small farmers and indigenous peoples, women and children in the region.
The report pointed out that nearly 16% of people in South Asia are undernourished, and undernourishment in the entire region is at the highest level in a decade, at 8.7%.
In North Korea, getting enough food is the worst, with more than 40% of people suffering from malnutrition. But hunger is also an urgent problem in Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
The situation in the region is still better than in 2000, but progress has slowed in recent years, and in some cases reversed. In 10 countries in the region, more than 30% of children under 5 have stunted growth or are under-age – a common indicator of how full they are. In 8 other countries/regions, 20%-30% of people do this.
This deprivation can have long-term consequences because the child’s health is poor and cannot reach its full potential.
Millions of these children suffer from wasting, which is a potentially more dangerous condition due to insufficient food or chronic illness. In 2020, more than 31 million children in the Asia-Pacific region will be affected by wasting. If current trends continue, this number may increase to 40 million by the end of 2022.
FAO and other agencies working to tackle hunger are urging to focus efforts on broader issues, not just increasing food production-this is a critical step, but it does not ensure that families can truly afford healthy food. diet.
The challenge is to formulate policies to improve the food system in response to epidemics, natural disasters, poverty, political instability, and other challenges that hinder improved access to adequate food.
