Asia Leads World in Reducing Hunger
Stacey
Rosen
At the World
Food Summit in November 1996, 186 countries
pledged to reduce by half the number of undernourished
people by 2015. Nearly 10 years later, the number
of hungry people (those consuming below the nutritional
target of 2,100 calories per day recommended by
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization)
has declined by about 7 percent, on average. Some
countries, however, have succeeded in reducing hunger
much more, an outcome that appeared unlikely a decade
ago. Asia has led the world in reducing hunger (down
about 30 percent). Examples of success include Bangladesh
and Vietnam, both of which already have met the
World Food Summit goal.
Per capita food consumption in
Bangladesh has increased roughly 2 percent per year,
with the number of hungry people falling by 70 percent
between 1992-94 and 2002-04. Grain output has grown
by more than 3 percent per year, and a rapidly growing
export sector provides foreign exchange to facilitate
strong growth in food imports. Textiles account
for more than half of the country’s export
earnings, and quotas protected Bangladeshi textiles
from competition with China and India. Most of the
gains in domestic agriculture are a result of increased
productivity rather than area expansion. Government
policy reforms have encouraged private-sector firms
to invest in the supply and trade of inputs, such
as irrigation equipment, seeds, and fertilizer.
Irrigated area, for example, increased by nearly
50 percent over the past decade.
In Vietnam, the number of hungry
people fell from an average of nearly 19 million
in 1992-94 to close to zero in 2002-04, as per capita
consumption grew by 2.5 percent per year. Grain
production has expanded more than 4 percent per
year since 1990, while population growth has slowed
to about 1.5 percent per year. The growth in the
agricultural sector occurred at a time when the
economy was moving from a centrally planned system
to one that was more market oriented. Previously
a net food importer, Vietnam has become a major
exporter of aquacultural products and other commodities,
including rice and cashews. This growth, coupled
with gains in exports of oil and textiles, has provided
foreign exchange sufficient to enable strong growth
in imports, further expanding food supplies.
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