Hunger Hotspots Report: FAO & WFP

In News 

Recently, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) released the Hunger Hotspots Report.

More in News 

• The 2021 Global Food Crises Report released in May 2021 had already warned of acute food insecurity, soaring to a five-year high which was contributed by conflict, economic shocks (including due to COVID-19) and extreme weather, pushing at least 155 million people into acute food insecurity in 2020.

Major Points 

• Hunger Hotspots: 
  • The 23 hotspots are Afghanistan; Angola, Central African Republic, Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), Central Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali and the Niger), Chad, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone together with Liberia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
    • Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan, northern Nigeria and Yemen are among 23 where acute food insecurity will worsen from August through November 2021 

• Factors Responsible for Food Insecurity:

• Violence:
  • Violence is predicted to intensify in Afghanistan, Central Sahel, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, northern Nigeria, northern Mozambique, Myanmar, Sudan and Yemen.

• Violent conflicts have picked up between the Taliban and Afghan security forces in several parts of Afghanistan since the departure of the American troops. 

• Population displacement, abandonment of agricultural land, loss of life and assets, disruption of trade and cropping and loss of access to markets caused by conflicts can worsen food insecurity.

• Violence is also likely to disrupt access to humanitarian assistance.

• Pandemic Shocks: 
  • In 2020, almost all low- and middle-income countries were affected by the pandemic-induced economic downturns. 
    • Hunger shot up in 2020, outpacing population growth:
      •  Almost 10 per cent of the world’s population was estimated to be undernourished last year, up from 8.4 per cent in 2019.

• Natural Hazards:
  • Extreme weather conditions and climate variability are likely to affect several parts of the world during the outlook period.

• In Haiti, reduced precipitation during the main growing season ended May is likely to have impacted yield.
  • Continued below-average rainfall, on the other hand, is likely to reduce yield during the main rice-growing season.

• Desert locust infestation was a major worry in the Horn of Africa at the beginning of July, while other regions were unaffected.

• Poor Humanitarian Access:

• Humanitarian access is limited in various ways, including administrative/bureaucratic impediments, movement restrictions, security constraints and physical constraints related to the environment.

Recommendations

• The report provided country-specific recommendations to protect rural livelihoods and increase agricultural production.
• Short-term protective interventions must be implemented before new humanitarian needs materialise and immediate actions must be taken for addressing existing humanitarian requirements. 
• Integrate nutrition interventions across food and social-protection systems, to address both chronic and acute malnutrition.
• Increase coverage for prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition in drought and conflict-affected areas.
• Support cash-for-work operations to meet the immediate food needs of the at-risk population, and to protect the livelihoods of populations affected by severe climate variability.
• Provide essential agricultural inputs to vulnerable rural communities – where an increased risk of high prices or scarcity of inputs could affect rural agricultural livelihoods – to protect local food production.

What is Food Security?

• Food security means availability, accessibility and affordability of food to all people at all times. 
• Poor households are more vulnerable to food insecurity whenever there is a problem with the production or distribution of food crops. 
• Food security depends on the Public Distribution System (PDS) and government vigilance and action at times, when this security is threatened.

India’s Step in Ensuring Food Security

• The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013:

• It was enacted in July 2013 which gives legal entitlement to 67% of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas) to receive highly subsidized foodgrains.

• National Food Security Mission:

• It was launched in 2007-08  by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• It focuses on the sustainable increase in the production of targeted crops through area expansion and productivity enhancement.

• PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY):
  • The Department of Food & Public Distribution started the implementation of “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY)” for three months i.e. April, May and June 2020 and had been extended for five more months.
  • It is a scheme as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat to supply free food grains to migrants and the poor.
  • Under the scheme, five kgs of wheat or rice and one kg of pulses per month will be given free of cost to the poor.
  • It aimed to ensure sufficient foods for the poor and needy amid the coronavirus crisis.

• One Nation One Ration Card:
  • It was rolled out by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in 2019 in 4 states on a pilot basis.
  • Aim: To ensure hassle-free delivery of subsidized food grains to all migratory beneficiaries anywhere in the country through nationwide portability under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
    • To empower all National Food Security Act migrant beneficiaries to access foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) of their choice anywhere in the country by using their same/existing ration card with biometric authentication.

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi:

• It is a Central Sector Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme. 
• It was launched in February 2019 (made effective from December 2018) to give income support to farmers.
• The scheme is meant to aid farmers partially to meet the expenses on fertilisers and seeds before the sowing season.
• The financial assistance of Rs. 6000 per annum is provided to all landholding farmer families across the country, subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income strata, e.g. all Institutional Landholders.

Source: DTH