DUBAI: Food wastage, rather than a shortage of resources, is the key factor behind global hunger, according to the head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Gilbert Houngbo, president of the UN agency, said there is more than enough food being produced to feed the world’s population of over 7 billion people.
Food waste does however represent a tragic loss of resources and should be addressed, Houngbo said in an interview with Arab News.
“The lack of food management and huge food wastage is creating a hungry population,” he said.
Food loss and wastage affects 40 percent or more of the total amount of food produced, he added.
Houngbo was speaking following the release of a UN report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017,” released on Friday. He stressed the need to create awareness about food waste.
“We need to educate people. We need to find ways not only to produce food that is full of nutrition, but also to stop waste and bring about programs to teach people about how to value the food which is reaching... their tables.”
According to the UN report, global hunger is on the rise again, affecting 815 million people in 2016, or 11 percent of the global population.
That marked an increase of 38 million people compared to 2015, with the rise largely due to a proliferation of violent conflicts and climate-related shocks, the report said.
Asia has the largest share of hungry people with 520 million of the total, followed by Africa with 243 million and Latin America and the Caribbean with 42 million.
The number of children under five suffering from stunted growth stands at 155 million, while 52 million are underweight. The report also found that 41 million children under 5 are overweight, while 641 million adults are obese.
Houngbo said climate change has a direct impact on food production, which eventually increases the risk of food insecurity as well as malnutrition, particularly among children.
“If we look at what happened in the Americas in the last two weeks due to hurricanes, and the floods in South Asia, we can imagine what can happen to our crops, fisheries and livestock in just a few weeks, which means more hunger,” he said.
Houngbo said investment in rural areas was key given the high level of migration to urban areas.
“For me the major concern is that we should make lots of investment in villages so that people do not have to leave their homes in search of better quality of living. We should provide them quality of life in their villages,” he said.
Farmers need support, better facilities and direct access to the market, Houngbo added.
“They need our support for improved seeds, smart use of irrigation, technology, better infrastructure and facilities that give them better quality of life. Our challenge is that people should start taking agriculture seriously as a profitable business, and consider rural areas as a place to invest,” he said.
Out of 815 million hungry people on the planet, more than half lives in conflict zones, according to the UN report. Houngbo pointed to the dangers of food insecurity in societies. “The right to food is a basic right that every government has to provide its citizens. Hunger causes desperation and threatens social stability,” he said.
Houngbo is however optimistic about the future, saying that many countries have started realizing the importance of a strong agriculture industry.
“I am very optimistic because in recent years countries have started realizing that they can’t put all their eggs in one basket in the name of development and hence they have to diversify,” he said.
“Hence more and more countries are going back to the agriculture sector, which not only improves their exports but also makes sure that they have enough food for their citizens.”
Food waste is main cause of global hunger, says UN agency official
Food waste is main cause of global hunger, says UN agency official
Venezuela’s acting president calls for oil industry reforms to attract more foreign investment
- In her speech, Rodríguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects
CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez used her first state of the union address on Thursday to promote oil industry reforms that would attract foreign investment, an objective aggressively pushed by the Trump administration since it toppled the country’s longtime leader less than two weeks ago.
Rodríguez, who has been under pressure from the US to fall in line with its vision for the oil-rich nation, said sales of Venezuelan oil would go to bolster crisis-stricken health services, economic development and other infrastructure projects.
While she sharply criticized the Trump administration and said there was a “stain on our relations,” the former vice president also outlined a distinct vision for the future between the two historic adversaries, straying from her predecessors, who have long railed against American intervention in Venezuela.
“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy” with the US, said Rodriguez, who must now navigate competing pressures from the Trump administration and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech, which was broadcast on a delay in Venezuela, came one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster.
Trump on Thursday met at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
In her speech, Rodríguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects.
Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long suffered. Patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. Economic turmoil, among other factors, has pushed millions of Venezuelans to migrate from the South American nation in recent years.
In moving forward, the acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela’s security forces and strongly oppose the US Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the US, to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to US meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez’s government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That’s because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure US control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
