'Hunger easing in Asia'

Asia's economic rise has been momentous. Since the early 1960s, the world's most populous continent has grown richer faster than any other region in the world. In 1990, 56 percent of people in East Asia and 54 percent in South Asia lived on less than 1.25 USD a day. By 2010, these rates had fallen to 12 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Last year, East Asia grew by 7.1 percent and South Asia by 5.2 percent, faster than any other part in the world.

Even though these countries have become richer, there are still more than 525.6 million hungry people in Asia - more than in any other continent - and the region has more than half of the world's billion undernourished, according to a recently released annual report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP) on the State of Food Insecurity (SOFI) in the world.

But there has also been improvement over the past 24 years. WFP Communications Officer Zoie Jones says in a DW interview that during this time an estimated 217 million Asians have overcome hunger. However, she adds, hunger prevalence remains a problem, especially in southern and western Asia.

DW: How many people suffer from hunger in Asia?

Zoie Jones: The number of food-insecure people in the world is now estimated at 805 million compared to 842 million reported last year, according to the latest UN report on hunger, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014. This means one in nine people in the world suffer from hunger, compared to one in eight estimated last year.

Asia has the highest number of undernourished people. Its sheer size makes it a region of extremes: the SOFI report estimates that there are now 525.6 million people in Asia suffering from hunger, while 217 million Asians have overcome hunger since 1990–92.

What do these figures says about the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of undernourished people by 2015?

Since 1990-92, the prevalence of under-nutrition has fallen from 18.7 percent to 11.3 percent globally in 2012-14, and from 23.4 percent to 13.5 percent in developing regions. The MDG target is to achieve a rate of 11.7 percent in developing regions by the end of 2015.

Overall, Asia is close to reaching the MDG hunger target, but there are large differences across its sub-regions. Eastern and South-Eastern Asia have already met the target, having cut their under-nutrition rates by more than half and more than two-thirds respectively.

The Caucasus and Central Asia are also on track to reach the goal by 2015, but hunger prevalence remains a problem in Southern and Western Asia. The percentage of hungry people in Southern Asia has dropped from 24 percent in 1990-92 to 15.8 percent for this SOFI reporting period. In Western Asia, it has increased from 6.3 percent to 8.7 percent, largely owing to political instability and the deterioration in overall economic conditions.

How can the MDG hunger target be reached throughout Asia?

While the global trend towards reducing hunger continues, considerable efforts are still needed if the MDG on hunger is to be reached in developing countries by the December 2015 deadline. Ending hunger must be at the center of the political agenda.

The challenge ahead is to transform political will into action and results. This means improving food security and nutrition through adequate investments, better policies including social safety nets, legal frameworks, stakeholder participation and a strong evidence base. Institutional reforms are also needed to promote and sustain progress on eradicating hunger.

What more do Asian governments need to do to eradicate hunger?

Global hunger reduction requires an integrated approach, such as: public and private investments to raise agricultural productivity; better access to inputs, land, services, technologies and markets; measures to promote rural development; social protection for the most vulnerable, including strengthening their resilience to conflicts and natural disasters; and specific nutrition programs, especially to address micronutrient deficiencies in mothers and children aged under five.

Much of the progress in fighting hunger in Asia is accounted for by improvements in China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, which have experienced rapid economic growth over the past three decades.

The common feature of progress in these countries is that their pathways to growth began with investments in agriculture, which resulted in higher food availability, improved access and steady growth in food supplies. The Caucasus and Central Asia are still exposed to stability challenges, stemming from either food supply swings or political instability.

Can you tell us about an Asian country that has managed to achieve the MDG?

One of the SOFI report's seven case studies is Indonesia which has reached the MDG hunger target by reducing the proportion of undernourished people from 19.7 percent of the population in 1990–92 to 8.7 percent in 2012–14. This was largely achieved through efforts to strengthen legal frameworks and institutions for food security and nutrition governance and by placing food self-sufficiency as the focus of food policies since the Asian economic crisis of 1997–98.

The release of this year's SOFI report is a timely reminder that more must be done both globally and in Asia to end hunger. WFP, in partnership with governments, the private sector and communities, is working towards a world in which there is zero hunger.

Zoie Jones is Communications Officer at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome.