Global commitment to end hunger in 2030 suffers setback as donor support shrinks

• Published date: 15 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Despite global commitments to end hunger by 2030, donor support for agriculture has been stagnant at just 4 percent of total Official Development Assistance (ODA) for at least two decades.

This was the damning verdict of Alvaro Lario, President of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), who spoke ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders scheduled for later this week in Davos.

While suggesting the urgent need to invest at speed and scale in long-term rural development to prevent recurring food crises and end hunger and poverty, he said, 'We cannot continue to go from food crisis to food crisis. We should not have to see countries experiencing acute food insecurity over and over again. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. We must take immediate and concrete actions to strengthen our failing food systems - this requires strong commitment and bold investment.'

At Davos, Lario will be calling for a massive scale-up of investments in agriculture, and long-term rural development from governments, investors and private companies with the view to ensure nutritional security and food sovereignty, an issue that has become critical for developing countries. At least an additional US$30 billion per year in investments are needed according to pre-COVID19 estimates, now the costs are even higher.

'Only long-term investments in rural economies can provide long-lasting solutions to hunger, under-nutrition and poverty. This is what will enable small-scale farmers to increase local production, better adapt to climate change, build short and local food chains, build and sustain local markets and commercial opportunities, and create small rural businesses. This approach makes a lot of economic sense,' said the IFAD President.

According to World Bank research, growth in agriculture is two to four times more effective at reducing poverty than growth in other sectors.

The number of people facing acute...