I Introduction

One of the great unsung global achievements of the second half of the 20^th century has been the world’s extraordinary success in raising global food production. While the global population has doubled to over 6 billion people in less than 50 years, average per capita food consumption has risen from about 2350 to 2800 kcal per day, with the fastest increases in both food output and consumption occurring in developing countries.^[2]

In spite of this achievement, the number of people without enough to eat on a regular basis remains stubbornly high, at over 800 million, and is not falling significantly. Over 60% of the world’s undernourished people live in Asia, and a quarter in Africa. The proportion of people who are hungry, however, is greater in Africa (33%) than Asia (16%). The latest FAO figures indicate that there are 22 countries, 16 of which are in Africa, in which the undernourishment prevalence rate is over 35%.^[3]

Much of the global growth in food production has come from small-scale farmers, especially in Asia. Even, however, in those countries, such as India and China, which have been most successful in raising smallholder output and reducing poverty, many millions of people, both rural and urban, continue to be chronically undernourished. In these countries, the gap between poor and rich is widening, and hunger is a symptom of economic exclusion.

The disturbingly slow rate of progress in reducing the number of undernourished persons worldwide suggests that the measures now being taken to cut hunger are either not the right ones or that they are simply not being applied sufficiently boldly and on a large enough scale to have a significant impact.

In spite of the disappointing progress, this paper assumes that the goal of halving the number of chronically undernourished people by 2015, set at the World Food Summit in 1996, is still attainable. This will require a combination of adjustments in tactics and a deliberate sequencing of required actions which gives initial priority to low-cost interventions which benefit very large numbers of people. It also demands a stronger commitment by both developing countries and the international community to apply known solutions on a scale which reflects the size of the hunger problem.

The paper briefly revisits the case for hunger eradication and reviews some of the limitations of current programmes to cut hunger (including FAO’s Special Programme for Food Security - SPFS). It then examines some of the practical issues to be addressed when countries embark on nation-wide food security programmes with the aim of achieving the WFS goal, even when resources are tight. Finally it touches on the possible role of FAO in support of such programmes.