People facing food insecurity

SOME 57 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s population experience moderate to severe food insecurity, the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) reports.
In its information paper for the food system summit in September, about a quarter of PNG’s worst cases were found in Western (47 per cent), Gulf and Southern Highlands (34 per cent), West Sepik (33 per cent) and Hela (30 per cent).
UNFAO noted that the rural population were more likely to experience moderate to severe food insecurity than urban population.
It also noted that in Papua New Guinea, populations experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity ranged from a high of 73 per cent in Western to a low of 35 per cent in Madang.
UNFAO also found that child malnutrition was an alarming issue in PNG. According to recent reports in 2018, the average stunting prevalence had increased to 55 per cent and that the rate could be higher in remote interiors of the country.
On a global scale, the UN food agency noted nearly 690 million people were undernourished last year, with Asia alone being home to 50 per cent of them.
“Nearly two billion people in Asia and the Pacific cannot afford a healthy diet,” the watchdog reported, adding that most countries were already off track on the sustainable development goals even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“Food systems are in many cases part of the problem, but there is scientific consensus that transforming food systems is one of the most powerful ways to change course, realise the vision of the 2030 Agenda,” it added.