Food insecurity and crisis 2020
It’s not a hidden fact that after all this growth and development in human civilization, millions of people globally still go hungry every day. Even after decades of efforts by humanitarian organizations like United Nations and its agencies, we have not been able to eliminate food crisis in many countries. However, since the Covid-19 outbreak, the situation has been more critical with millions more people not getting food last year.
Food insecurity and crisis 2020
At least 155 million people faced food insecurity at crisis levels last year because of conflict, extreme weather conditions and Covid-linked economic breakdowns, says UN-partnered flagship report. Around 20 million more people had to go hungry in 2020, than those in 2019, says Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC). As many as 55 countries have been facing bad hunger levels for five years, the agency revealed.
African continent worst affected
African remained “disproportionally affected”, with conflict pushing at least 100 million people into acute food crisis, the GNAFC said. That includes 40 million people going hungry due to economic shocks and 16 million due to extreme weather, it said. The UN called on the world to stand together in order to tackle conflict and hunger at the same time. Only by this way, we can establish peace and stability worldwide.
According to GNAFC report, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen faced worst food crises last year. Apart from African countries, the report featured Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and Haiti among the 10 worst food crises in 2020. According to the report authored collectively by UN, EU and other agencies, around 98 million people faced acute food insecurity. Among them, every two out of three were on Africa continent.
Conflict to make worsen food crisis
As many as 39 countries and territories have faced food crises in last five years, the statement said. As per report, over 75 million children under five were stunted in 55 countries and territories facing food crisis. Also, around 15 million children may be wasted in the same year. The report forecasts that conflict will remain key factor of food crises in 2021. Also, Covid-19 pandemic, its containment measures and extreme weather conditions continue to make worsen it.
These factors will keep aggravating acute food insecurity in vulnerable economies this year, said the joint statement of UN and partnered agencies. They expressed need for more equitable, sustainable and resilient systems in order to feed 8.5 billion people by 2030. The authors pointed out requirement of radical transformation of global agri-food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.