UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the Progress toward defeating hunger in the world's most populous region has slowed and countries of Asia-Pacific must redouble their efforts if the Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger is to be met by 2030. 
In the first post-MDG report of its kind, FAO's 2016 Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Insecurity – Investing in a Zero Hunger Generation, warns that progress in reducing hunger and improving nutrition has slowed in more recent years and many countries must pick up the pace in order to meet the SDG global goal of zero hunger by 2030. The report reveals that, region-wide, nearly one in three children suffers from stunting and home to more than 60 percent of the roughly 800 million hungry people in the world. 
"The analysis in this report is an eye-opener and a wake-up call to all of us here in Asia and the Pacific," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, during the launch of the report today in Bangkok, Thailand. 
Since 1990, the region as a whole managed to reduce hunger by half – a key objective of the former Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But most of those gains were made in the earlier part of that quarter-century. Presently, 12% of the region's population remains undernourished – some 490 million people – most of them in Southern Asia. 
The FAO report indicates that zero hunger can be achieved, provided that a number of steps are followed, particularly by increasing investment in more efficient production methods and agricultural research. 
The report's key thematic approach examines the challenges of addressing persistent hunger and undernutrition in the context of limited natural resources. It also takes a closer look at other aspects of malnutrition arising from poor diets such as the rise in obesity and 'hidden hunger' from micronutrient deficiency. While figures differ country to country, the regional rate of obesity has been increasing by more than four percent annually. 
The FAO report also offers analysis of some of the other emerging issues in the region, such as dietary diversification and implications for food production. (QNA) systems, food safety, and policy. As countries and their inhabitants grow richer, diets and demands for certain foods change. This change is happening rapidly in Asia, where per capita rice consumption has declined and consumption of livestock products, fish, fruits and vegetables has grown rapidly.

Source: QNA