Latest Context

Recently, FAO released the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) which is an annual report prepared by FAO and other organizations on the progress made by the world on ending hunger, food security, and nutrition.

Key Highlights

• As per the report, the level of undernourishment remained unchanged from 2021 to 2022 but still far above the pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. It affects approximately 9.2% of the world population in 2022 in comparison to 7.9 % in 2019.
• There are 122 million more people faced hunger in 2022 in comparison to 2019 due to weather shocks, pandemic, and conflicts.
• As per the reports, food insecurity affects women more than men in every region of the world.

The gender gap in the realm of food insecurity at the global level narrowed to 2.4 % in 2022 from 3.8 % in 2019 which was widened in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Growing urbanization has become a megatrend in the current scenario that combined with the changes in incomes, employment and lifestyle is bringing about change in throughout agrifood systems to consumer behaviour.      
• These changes are proffering challenges and opportunities for everyone tin accessing healthy diets.

Challenges

• Increased availability of cheap, energy-dense and highly processed foods and the exclusion of small farmers from formalizing value chains

Opportunities

• Increased employment along the food value chains and improvements in the variety of nutritious foods

Recommendations

• To affordable healthy diets, attention should be laid to connectivity between urban, peri-urban and rural areas to increase access.
• Emphasis should be on improving access to production inputs and irrigation infrastructure.
• To develop technologies and innovations in order to create healthier food environments attention should be made to increasing public investment in R&D

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