State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 - Interview with FAO Chief Economist transcript

[Music] thank you [Music] a key finding is that the global hunger measured with the prevalence of undernourishment what we call Pou remain relatively unchanged from 2021 to 2022 but is still far above pre-covid19 pandemic levels affecting around 9.2 percent of the world population in 2022 compared with 7.9 percent in 2019 this means that 122 million more people face hunger in 2022 than in 2019 before the pandemic it is projected that almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030. this is about 119 million more than in the scenario in which neither the pandemic nor the war in Ukraine had occurred and around 23 million more than if 2022 events have not happened this points to a tremendous setback provoked by the pandemic as well as immense change of achieving the sdg target to eradicate hunger foreign America in 2022 these are good news and this seemed to have benefited relatively more from the economic rebound after the covid-19 pandemic this is not observed for Western Asia the Caribbean and also regions of Africa those are bad news just as the global economic conditions appear to be more favorable for 2022 and the prospects of the reduction in hunger and food insecurity towards pandemic levels is impossible the outbreak of the war in Ukraine sent another choke through the global economy exacerbating the prices of food as a result the recovery observed in 2021 a slow farther in 2022 [Music] if there was no covid-19 and there was no war in Ukraine chronic under nourishment would have been declining now what has happened Global Trends in the Hunger reflected the combination of two factors in their plane in opposite directions at the household level first prices have been affected and it had affected hunger numbers as noted Global Food commodity prices were Rising steadily before the war but they were exacerbated the situation creating a new search in food prices given the resulting rise in food in poor cost because of the increasing prices countries that are highly dependent on food imports have been particularly affected increasing food prices and general inflation has also affected the poorest segments of the population who have spent a larger share of their income on food the second Factor which goes in the opposite direction is the income and the income effect of the economy recovery in 2022 which likely contributed to an increase in household disposable income and improve access to food particularly for the forest households that have suffered heavy income loss during the pandemic has helped this situation therefore the solid situation in global hunger observed for 2022 is a result of the interaction of these two factors the increase in prices and the recovery of incomes but certainly in regions who hunger decline like in Asia Latin America the income effect has prevailed in other regions where hunger is still on the rise both the lack of income recovery and Rising prices have prevailing combination [Music] urbanization is a mega Trend it's one of the key drivers that we are observing in the long term that cannot be left unnoticed and if we are to improve food security and nutrition for the old we need to take into account this trend increasing urbanization with almost 7 in 10 people projected to live in cities by is driving changes in the agri-food systems that we cannot understand if we continue to use the traditional Urban and Royal divide these changes in the agri-food systems represent both challenges and opportunities to ensure everyone has access to Affordable healthy diets the challenges include a greater availability of Cheaper convenience pre-prepared fast foods often energy dense and high in fats sugars and results that can contribute to malnutrition insufficient availability of vegetables and fruits to meet the daily requirements of healthy diets for everyone another problem is exclusion of small farmers from former value chains and lots of lands and natural Capital due to Urban expansion urbanization also presents opportunities as it is a result in longer more formal and complex food value chains that expand income generating activities in no Farm employment especially for women and youth and increase the variety of nutritious Foods moreover Farmers often gain better access to agricultural inputs and services as urban areas grow closer to rural areas [Music] first we need to integrate humanitarian development and peace building policies where there is conflict Erp building efforts must be linked to livelihood support nutrition sensitive social protection and programs for development of resilient and efficient production and Supply chains community-based approaches should be a key aspect of post-conflict policies second we need to cope with the risk of climate change we need to scale up climate resilience across agri-food systems by reducing climate related risk and adapting to climate change relying on climate risk monitoring and early warning systems and improving access and management of natural productive assets third we need to strengthen the resilience of the most vulnerable to economic adversities which requires strengthening the agri-food system productivity and Market linkages along the food supply chain curving crises in food prices and excessive price volatility boosting job creation and expanding social protection schemes none of this transformation Pathways will work of course if poverty and extracted inequalities were not tackled which require empowering vulnerable and marginalized populations reducing General inequalities by supporting women's economic activities and ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources foreign