Expert’s forecast on solving food insecurity in poor countries
Following the results of 2023, two major international organisations, the World Bank and the UN World Food Programme, presented special reports. The conclusions and forecasts of leading experts are far from optimistic: food shortages in poor countries are increasing annually. Prof. Natalya Kireenko, Doctor of Economics, Department Head at the Institute for Professional Development and Retraining of Agribusiness Specialists at the Belarusian State Agrarian Technical University, shared her opinion on this issue.
“Last year, the number of hungry people in the world increased by almost seven million, reaching 333 million in 78 countries. The situation is predicted to worsen, not least because of fertiliser shortages, rising energy prices and many other negative factors.”
The United Nations has identified 2023 as the time to address the global challenge of hunger and food security, and, unfortunately, today this decision is stalling. The excess of food products and their excessive consumption in the Global North and acute food shortages in the Global South have not yet prompted citizens and politicians of rich countries to share their surpluses with poor peoples. This selfishness of developed countries is repugnant, because about 30 per cent of food products go straight from stores to landfills. Meanwhile, the World Bank reports that as of December 2023, nearly 30 countries have imposed 44 restrictive measures on food exports.
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The UN has estimated that the number of hungry people in the world is increasing, depending on the region, from 0.5 per cent to 3 per cent annually, mainly due to the countries of Africa and Asia. By 2030, the population in these regions will be over 6 billion people, with a total population of 8.5 billion by that time, so the issue of hunger in the world will become even more acute.
