Of halving the world's undernourished by 2015 is ambitious. Here's why:
Undernourished population of sub-Saharan Africa will go up by 2015 in stark contrast with other developing countries
168 million people were undernourished in sub-Saharan Africa in 1990/92 (three-year average), and will increase to 205 million by 2015
Developing countries as a whole had 815 million undernourished people in 1990/92. This is expected to reduce to 610 million by 2015. The summit's target was 410 million by 2015
Factors affecting undernourishment: population growth, poverty and food security
While the rate of global population growth declines from 1.5 per cent in 1989-99 to 0.9 per cent in 2015-30, sub-Saharan Africa would show a modest decline from 2.7 per cent to 2.2 per cent for the same periods. This is higher than the average for all developing countries: 1.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent
World's poor living on less than US $1 per day will decline from 1,134 million in 1999 to 749 million by 2015. But sub-Saharan Africa's impoverished will increase from 300 million to 345 million
The key variable to track developments in food security is the per capita food consumption on which sub-Saharan Africa will show little progress
|
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.