World will not reach ‘zero hunger’ goal by 2030, says FAO

The goal of zero hunger by 2030, one of the main UN sustainable development goals, may not be met, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned.FAO).

This FAO forecast shows whether the current economic situation, marked by the effects of climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, will continue.

To achieve the goal “zero hungerThe organization indicates that in the next eight years, global agricultural productivity should increase by 28%, which is three times more than the growth it had in the last decade.

But it would not only be that, as they indicate that it is necessary to double the yields to reach 24% and that the production of animal meat must increase by 31%.

In addition, all this must be done by implementing the necessary measures to ensure sustainability, so that emissions greenhouse gas don’t keep growing.

“Achieving both goals in less than a decade through productivity gains alone will be very difficult, suggesting that other measures need to be taken in parallel,” they warn in their Agricultural Outlook 2022-2031 report.

The conflict in Ukraine is one of the biggest risks

FAO points out that Ukraine and Russia are the two most important cereal producers and exporters in the world, with a combined production of 30% of the world’s wheat, 50% of sunflower oil and 15% of fertilizers.

As they note, the war had a great impact on agricultural production because many growers cannot cope with rising transport and fertilizer costs, and a growing population that depends on the grains these countries export both for their diet and for livestock feed.

This has caused large disparities between the most dependent and vulnerable regions and countries and those that export from different sources, and made their agri-food systems more resilient.

“The top five exporting countries (European Union, Australia, Russia, Canada and the US) will account for 70% or more of global exports and this trend is expected to continue over the next decade,” they say.

These differences will also be seen in the increased demand for foodwhich will be 1.4% per year over the next decade due to population growth, but with differences between low and high income countries.

In terms of prices for both food and energy and transport, the FAO report predicts they will remain high over the next year and then “return to their long-term downward trend.”

(According to the EFE agency).