Hunger in Asia worsened due to pandemic: Report

NEW DELHI: The Food and Agriculture Organisation in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund released a report titled ‘2021 Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food, Security and Nutrition.’ More than 375 million people in the Asian region faced hunger during 2020, as compared to the number being around 321 million in 2019.

The report pointed out that in recent years, progress has been stalled in reducing the number of undernourished in the region as more children under the age of five years are stunted. The COVID-19 pandemic, in addition, exacerbated the negative trend. The report noted that even the countries that initially reported a small number of the COVID-19 cases, saw the detrimental consequences of the containment measures, which, along with public health worries, resulted in a global economic slowdown. Since then, disruption to food supply chains has worsened the problems.

The Directors of the FAO and UNICEF said that in order to build back from the pandemic, for better agri-food systems, governments will need to provide better production, better nutrition, a better environment and better livelihoods. To do that, the report stressed on stepping up to meet the needs of small-scale, family farmers and indigenous people in Asia.