World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Orissa Forest Mazdoor Union (OFMU) on Monday urged the [Indian] Government to introduce a food security scheme on the line of World Food Programme for bamboo cutters, who were leading a pathetic life. Submitting a memorandum to Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, OFMU general secretary Dandapani Mohanty said there were about one lakh bamboo cutters, who were mostly landless and were languishing in poverty in the State. The WFP came to their rescue supplying food commodity to this forest dependent community through government agencies like Forest Department and every year nearly 10000 metric tonne of rice, pulses and edible oiled were being supplied to these poor families for last 20 years.

A flagship government food subsidy scheme is failing and millions in India remain hungry despite years of economic boom, a UN report showed. The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), meant to sell food essentials to India's poorest people at subsidized prices, has excluded large numbers because of poor data and lack of adequate definitions of hunger, the report said. About 20 per cent of the world's 1 billion hungry poor live in India. [...] "Apart from failing to serve the intended goal of reduction of food subsidies, the TPDS also led to greater food insecurity for large sections of the poor and the near-poor," the report, written by the UN World Food Programme and a think-tank, said.

Small, sick, listless children have long been India’s scourge — “a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister, Manmohan Singh. But even after a decade of galloping economic growth, child malnutrition rates are worse here than in many sub-Saharan African countries, and they stand out as a paradox in a proud democracy. [...] A World Food Program report last month noted that India remained home to more than a fourth of the world’s hungry, 230 million people in all. It also found anemia to be on the rise among rural women of childbearing age in eight states across India. Indian women are often the last to eat in their homes and often unlikely to eat well or rest during pregnancy.

The number of hungry people in India far outstrips those that live in any other country in the world, says the UN World Food Programme (WFP) report prepared jointly with the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. Coming down heavily on the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) as a programme that has failed to serve intended goals, the report says it has only led to greater food insecurity for the poor. [...] Present approaches have patently failed in curbing malnutrition. Innovative strategies to tackle the problem must be put in place.

India is failing its rural poor with 230 million people being undernourished — the highest for any country in the world. Malnutrition accounts for nearly 50% of child deaths in India as every third adult (aged 15-49 years) is reported to be thin (BMI less than 18.5). According to the latest report on the state of food insecurity in rural India, more than 1.5 million children are at risk of becoming malnourished because of rising global food prices. [...] Brought out by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the report points to some staggering figures. More than 27% of the world's undernourished population lives in India while 43% of children (under 5 years) in the country are underweight. The figure is among the highest in the world and is much higher than the global average of 25% and also higher than sub-Saharan Africa's figure of 28%.

Food prices in Nepal will continue to remain volatile in 2009 if cost drivers which were responsible for the high prices last year persist, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said. Domestic cost drivers which caused prices to rise by as much as 40 percent on some food stuffs in 2008 were bandhs and blockades, high transportation costs and transport syndicates. The year-on-year food and beverage inflation in Nepal was approximately 17 percent compared to India's inflation rate of approximately 10 percent. "Global food prices and, more importantly, prices in India will also have an impact on food prices in Nepal," said Richard Ragan, WFP country director.

The last decade has seen stunting among children in rural India fall and access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation improve, according to a new report released by WFP and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF). But calorie intake and chronic energy deficiency have remained stagnant, the report says. [...] “The report maps hunger and malnutrition hot spots in the country. It is an excellent tool for the government, policy makers and the civil society for identifying food and nutrition insecure areas that need specific interventions,” said Mihoko Tamamura, WFP Representative and Country Director for India. “It also suggests priority areas of action to help achieve the national and Millennium Development Goal of reducing hunger and malnutrition,” she added.

A United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) report released last week says that a staggering 230 million—or 21%—of India’s population is undernourished. Poverty is one thing. Malnourishment is a different beast. Amartya Sen calls poverty the deprivation of basic capabilities—not simply lowness of income. Few deprivations are as detrimental as undernourishment, which has dismal instrumental effects on economic productivity and income attainment.

India's malnutrition figures are not coming down despite a number of government programmes, says a new report released by World Food Programme. The research points out the need for a revamped public distribution system and greater public investment to address the wants of rural population.

A new UN report says that many Indians in rural areas suffer malnutrition, despite government programmes. The report says that 40% of children under the age of three are underweight and a third of all men and women suffer from chronic energy deficiency. [...] The report was created by the World Food Programme and India's MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. MS Swaminathan, founder of the research foundation, said: "If you want to achieve food security for an individual you must bring three things together - availability of food, access to food - that means the purchasing power needed to buy the food - and finally the ability to absorb the food into the body."