Bangkok Post

Investing in a zero-hunger generation in Asia-Pacific

- Kundhavi Kadiresan, Assistant DirectorGe­neral and Regional Representa­tive for Asia and the Pacific of the Food and Agricultur­e Organisati­on of the United Nations. KUNDHAVI KADIRESAN

It was around this time last year that the world’s leaders came together in New York with a commitment to end hunger by 2030. The Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Goal to achieve Zero Hunger (SDG2) is an ambitious target, especially for countries in our region. After all, nearly two-thirds of the world’s undernouri­shed — 490 million people — live among us in what is the biggest and most dynamic yet extremely inequitabl­e region on the planet.

While the Asia-Pacific region as a whole has managed to reduce hunger by half since 1990, most of those gains were made early on in that quarter century. In more recent years, the pace of reducing hunger has slowed. So too has public investment in agricultur­e — bad news when we are trying to lift nearly half a billion people out of hunger within the next 14 years.

While we must eliminate hunger we must also strive towards building a society that is healthy and well nourished. And we need to get to work on this right now because 30% of children below five years of age in this region are stunted due to inadequate nutrients in their diet. While both a shocking and unacceptab­le situation, this represents a lamentable human loss, given the associatio­n between stunting and poorer cognitive performanc­e in schools that leads to significan­t economic consequenc­es — both for the individual and also for society as a whole.

On the other extreme we are seeing a growing incidence of obesity. Many countries in our region, particular­ly those whose economies have expanded in recent years, are also increasing­ly discoverin­g that the waistlines of their population­s are expanding. While this may sound counter-intuitive, the paradox of hunger alongside obesity is very real, bringing with it added costs in health care due to an increase in diabetes and other non-communicab­le diseases.

This week, the UN’s Food and Agricultur­e Organisati­on (FAO) released its first post-MDG analysis on hunger and malnutriti­on in Asia and the Pacific. The Regional Overview of Food Insecurity concludes that many of our countries need to pay more attention to agricultur­e sector growth. If the goal of achieving a zero-hunger generation in the region by 2030 is to become a reality, we will need to see more investment in agricultur­al science and technology, greater support for diverse food systems, increasing public investment in quality health care and improvemen­ts to education on better nutrition and sanitation.

In order to do all this we need to put our money where our mouths are if we are going to find innovative ways to produce both the quantity and quality of nutritious foods needed to make sure that everyone can lead a healthy and productive life by 2030. That’s in everyone’s best interest and that’s why we need to invest in a zero hunger generation now.

With 12% of the region’s population still undernouri­shed, that clock is ticking.

The good news is that most government­s in Asia and the Pacific are aware of these issues and are taking steps in the right direction. There is a clear recognitio­n that strengthen­ing agricultur­e and food systems in a manner that brings more affordable, healthier and diverse food options within everyone’s reach is the way forward.

The FAO report also acknowledg­es the rapid growth in production and consumptio­n of milk and dairy products in this region and highlights its potentiall­y important contributi­on to improved nutrition. It concludes that the promotion of milk consumptio­n and small-scale dairying can improve both nutrition and rural livelihood­s. However, the sector needs clearer policy and institutio­nal support for smallholde­r dairying to be competitiv­e in the marketplac­e, for improving the safety and quality of milk, and for managing the expansion of dairy farming in a way that negative impacts on the environmen­t and public health can be minimised.

Indeed diets in Asia and the Pacific are undergoing rapid transition. Per capita rice consumptio­n has declined and consumptio­n of livestock products, fish, fruits and vegetables has grown rapidly. This trend requires that foods other than rice receive more investment­s in agricultur­al research and heightened policy attention.

So the dining table of 2030 may appear somewhat different than it does today. That could be a good thing if we get to work on the serious challenges ahead — and to ensure everyone has a seat at that table and that their meals are nutritious and adequate for the human race to thrive in the centuries to come. Then we will have truly invested in the zero-hunger generation.

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