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The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2022 report has been released.

About the ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ –

• It is an annual flagship report to inform on progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition.
• It also provides in-depth analysis on key challenges for achieving this goal in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The report is jointly prepared by —
  • • Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),
    • International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
    • UNICEF,
    • World Food Programme (WFP) and
    • the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Key highlights of the report –

World is moving backwards —

• As per report, world is moving backwards in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its form.
• We are now only eight years away from 2030, but the distance to reach many of the SDG 2 targets is growing wider each year. SDG 2: Zero Hunger.
• It warned that the ongoing war in Ukraine is disrupting supply chains and further affecting prices of grain, fertilizer, and energy.
• At the same time, more frequent and extreme climate events are also disrupting supply chains, especially in low-income countries.

Global hunger has increased —

• The report highlighted that the number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021.
• This number saw an increase of about 46 million since 2020 and 150 million since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• It further said that, in 2021, around 2.3 billion people are facing moderate or severe difficulty in obtaining enough to eat.
• This was before the Ukraine war, which has sparked increases in the cost of grain, fertiliser, and energy.

Gender gap in food insecurity continued to rise —

• The gender gap in food insecurity continued to rise in 2021
• 9 percent of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure, compared to 27.6 percent of men.

India specific observations –

• Number of undernourished people declined —
  • The report said that in India, the number of undernourished people declined to 224.3 million in 2019–21 from 247.8 million in 2004-06.
    • • • In percentage terms, the prevalence of undernourishment in India stood at 21.6 percent in 2004-06 and declined to 16.3 percent in 2019-21.
• Number of stunted children under 5 years declined —
  • It said that the number of children under 5 years of age who are stunted declined to 36.1 million in 2020 from 52.3 million in 2012.
  • The number of children under five years of age who are overweight declined to 2.2 million in 2020 from 3 million in 2012.
• Number of obese adults in India grew —
  • The number of obese adults in India, which has a population of over 1.38 billion, grew to 34.3 million in 2016 from 25.2 million in 2012.
• Prevalence of anaemic women —
  • The prevalence of anaemic women aged 15 to 49 years declined marginally from 53.2 percent in 2012 to 53 percent in 2019.
• People who were unable to afford a healthy diet —
  • People who were unable to afford a healthy diet touched 973.3 million in 2020, or nearly 70.5 percent, up from 948.6 million in 2019 (69.4 percent).
• India provides substantial food subsidies to final consumers —
  • The report highlighted that India provides substantial subsidies to final consumers under the Targeted Public Distribution System for grains.
• Lauded India for its effort —
  • The report said that the most prominent example of a (Lower-middle-income countries) LMIC is India, where the food and agricultural policy has historically focused on protecting consumers.
  • India does this by ensuring affordable food prices, through –
    • • • export restrictions (on wheat, non-basmati rice, and milk, among others);
        • marketing regulations around pricing; and
        • public procurement, public food stockholding and distribution of a vast range of agricultural commodities.
  • Input subsidies and expenditure on general services such as in R&D and infrastructure have been widely used in India.
    • • • This is used as means of compensating them for the price disincentives generated by trade and market measures.
        • It also helps in boosting production and self-sufficiency in the country.