FAO to honor Malawi for reaching the anti-hunger targets
The United Nations food agency has said it will honor Malawi and 37 other countries that have already met internationally set hunger eradication targets set for 2015 to halve the percentage of hungry people at a ceremony in Rome Italy on June 16, 2013.
“These countries are leading the way to a better future. They are proof that with strong political will, coordination and cooperation, it is possible to achieve rapid and lasting reductions in hunger,” UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva said on Wednesday.
Of those, 18 countries also reached the more stringent World Food Summit Goal of reducing by half the absolute number of undernourished people between 1990-1992 and 2010-2012 are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Djibouti, Georgia, Ghana, Guyana, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.
According to a statement from FAO the countries that met the anti-hunger aspect of the first MDG include: Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Maldives, Niger, Nigeria; Panama, Togo and Uruguay.
The first MDG also includes targets for halving the proportion of people whose daily income is less than $1.25, and achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Graziano da Silva urged all countries to keep up the momentum, aiming for the complete eradication of hunger, in keeping with the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Zero Hunger Challenge.
“We need to keep up our efforts, until everyone can live healthy, productive lives,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Joyce Banda represented Malawi at the special event on the G8 Promoting African Agriculture: New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition Security event in London, United Kingdom on Saturday.
The President underscored the importance of increasing investments in food security and nutrition programmes, saying food security and nutrition are basic human needs to satisfy a healthy, active and decent life.
She said in her Facebook post: “Investing in food security for human resource development is therefore an important strategy for harnessing human capital development to achieve our long-term vision of a better future.”
The President said Malawi recognises the tremendous opportunity created by the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to support the country’s efforts to generate greater investment in agricultural development, achieve sustainable food security outcomes, reduce poverty and end hunger.
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