New post on Matters India India accounts for quarter of world’s hungry people New Delhi: Every fourth hungry person in the world is an Indian, according to a report from the Global Hunger Index (GHI) released on Monday. The report also noted an apparent decline in the number of hungry people from 870 million in 2012 to 842 million this year. The GHI report says that this is due to a recalculation of how undernourishment is measured by the UN-linked Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The absolute number of undernourished people has remained unchanged since 2006, but their proportion to the total world population is declining because the world population is growing. The 2013 GHI is calculated for 120 countries for which data on its three component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant. The three indicators used are: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the mortality (death) rate of children younger than age five. The report has been brought out by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and two international charities Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. Where is India in all this? The 2013 GHI says that in India the proportion of undernourished declined from about 21% of the population to 17.5 percent the proportion of underweight children declined from 43.5 percent to about 40 percent and under-five mortality declined from 7.5 percent to about 6 percent. All this put together means that the hunger index for India declined from 24 to 21 between 2003-2007 and 2008-2012. The proportion of underweight children is an estimate done by IFPRI as the last survey was done in 2004-05. Other surveys done more recently have shown trends that indicate that the nutritive value of food consumed per person is dipping. A recent survey of consumer expenditure said that nutritional intake measured in terms of calories declined from 2,153 kilocalories (Kcal) per person per day in 1993-1994 to 2,020 in 2009-2010 in rural areas and from 2,071 to 1,946 Kcal in urban areas. These shocking results are according to a report of the 66th round of survey done by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO). Even between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010, the calorie intake per person per day dipped from 2,047 to 2,020 in rural areas and from 2,020 to 1,946 in urban areas. Despite these caveats regarding the GHI data, India still continues in the Alarming category of countries classified by severity of hunger. That puts it in the category where the hunger index is between 20 and 29.9. Others in this category are Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo, Chad, Niger, and other African countries. These are places ravaged by resource wars and extreme poverty, and they make up the bottommost bunch in the Human Development Index rankings. Meanwhile, an October report on food prospects issued by FAO forecast a record cereal harvest for 2013 powered by a 7 percent increase in production over 2012. Wheat output is estimated at 705 million metric tons, a record. Coarse grains output is put at 1,288 milion metric ton, another record. And rice output is estimated at 496 MMT, yet another record. Wheat prices have declined in international markets by 16 percent over last year, rice prices are down 23 percent and maize prices by 35 percent, according to FAOs price monitor in October quoting prices for September 2013. With huge production and declining prices worldwide, why the worlds hungry are not getting enough food is a conundrum that policy makers and experts are groping to answer.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 04:42:59 +0000