Conceptualising Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger

Goal 2 or Zero Hunger of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) pivots around profoundly changing the global food and agriculture system, for nourishing 821 million hungry people (as of 2017), along with the additional 2 billion global populaces, expected by 2050. Goal 2 encompasses multiple targets (provided below as well) to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition as well as promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.

The underlying rationale is that extreme hunger and malnutrition remains a barrier to sustainable and social development and creates a trap from which people cannot escape easily. This leads to less productive individuals who are more disease-prone and hence, are unable to earn more and improve their livelihoods.

The reversal in progress made in terms of food security over the last three years, with hunger levels returning to those a decade ago, signals the urgent need for interventions to ensure that Goal 2 is achieved by 2030.

The question that needs to be reiterated time and again is that in a scenario where there is sufficient food to feed everyone on Planet Earth, why are such huge chunks of the population still suffering from hunger? Factors that have contributed to this oxymoronic state of food scarcity, can primarily be attributed to poor harvesting practices and food wastage. Other factors include environmental destruction as well the occurrence of violent crises or wars.

Agriculture is a source of livelihood (income and jobs) for 40% of the global population, making it the single largest employer in the world, especially for rural households. 500 million small farms are responsible for 80% of the food consumption in the developing world. Unfortunately, since the 1900s, 75% of the crop diversity has been lost.

Agricultural biodiversity leads to nutrition diets, enhanced livelihoods for farming communities and sustainable and resilient farming systems. Also, if female farmers are granted the same access to resources as the male farmers, the number of people who suffer from hunger will reduce by around 150 million. Another fundamental barrier to reducing hunger is the problem of energy poverty, given that 4 billion people living in rural areas in the developing world, have no access to electricity worldwide. This hampers the production of food.

The costs of ending world hunger by 2030 include an additional annual investment of approximately $267 billion, in rural and urban areas for social protection programmes that enable people in the marginalised sections or fringes of society to access food and improve their livelihoods. Investments in small-holder farms that are largely rain-fed to encourage food production for local and global markets, is critical for increasing food and nutrition security.

The targets include:

• Ensuring by 2030, year-long access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people (including infants), particularly poor and vulnerable ones
• Ending all forms of malnutrition by 2030; achieving by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age; addressing nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant/lactating women and older persons
• By 2030, doubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, through secure/equal access to land, productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets/opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment
• By 2030, ensuring sustainable food production systems and implementing resilient agricultural practices to increase productivity/production, help maintain ecosystems and progressively improve land/soil quality by strengthening capacity for adaptation to disasters like climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding
• By 2020, maintaining genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed/ domesticated animals and their related wild species, through soundly managed and diversified seed/plant banks at the national, regional and international levels; promoting access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits, by utilizing internationally accepted genetic resources/associated traditional knowledge
• Increase investment through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries
• Correct/prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies/export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the Doha Development Round mandate
• Ensure proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives; facilitate timely access to market information and food reserves, to help limit extreme food price volatility

Thus, achieving Zero Hunger is resolvable provided its myriad aspects and underlying challenges are effectively addressed. Importantly, the success of the other Sustainable Development Goals is dependent on Goal 2, vis-à-vis positive impacts on global health, economies, education as well as social development and equality.

India Outbound
December 21, 2018

source https://indiaoutbound.org/conceptualising-sustainable-development-goal-2-zero-hunger/