The United Nations' goal of ending world hunger by 2030 appears increasing difficult to reach as wars, climate change and economic crisis take their toll, according to a report released Wednesday.

Chronic hunger remained high and healthy food was out of reach of many people, the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report said, adding that around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023 — about one in 11 people globally. The situation in Africa was particularly dire, with one in five people there experiencing hunger. 

The report produced by five UN agencies was presented for the upcoming G20 summit in Brazil and suggested that a reform of financing food security and nutrition was required to reduce global hunger.

If current trends continue, about 582 million people will be chronically undernourished by the end of the decade, half of them in Africa, the report warned.

"We are in a worse situation today than nine years ago when we launched the goal to eradicate hunger by 2030," said David Laborde, an economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization and one of the report's authors.

"I think we can do better to deliver this promise about living on a planet where no one is hungry," he added.

Healthy diet unattainable for many

The report, compiled by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization and World Food Program, said a healthy diet was unaffordable for more than one-third of the world's population in 2023.

Updated estimates showed 71.5% of people in low-income countries could not afford a healthy diet last year, compared to 6.3% in high-income countries.

While famines are easy to pick out, the effects of long-term poor nutrition can negatively impact the physical and mental development of babies and children and leave adults more vulnerable to infections and illnesses, the report's authors said.

Improved financial support need to target global hunger

Laborde added that food security and nutrition required more than "distributing bags of rice in emergency situations."

There was an equally crucial need to provide aid to small-scale farmers and access to energy in rural areas that could electrify irrigation systems. 

According to current estimates, between $176 billion (€161.1 billion) and $3.98 trillion would be needed to eradicate hunger by 2030.

Donors, international agencies, aid groups should better coordinate their actions, the report said before going on to characterize the current set-up as "an over-proliferation of actors delivering mostly small, short-term projects."

In conclusion, the report said: "There is no time to lose, as the cost of inaction greatly exceeds the cost of action this report calls for."

km/sms (AFP, Reuters)