UN REPORT: THIRD OF RA POPULATION HUNGERS

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 31 2006

A number of people in Armenia, who have shortage of foodstuffs,
has reduced twice the recent 10 years. However, this number is not so
small. – 29% of the population, it is said in the Report on Food Safety
in the World, prepared by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization .

As the UN site informs, the Report authors also pay attention to a
huge number of starving people in Tajikistan, Armenia And Uzbekistan.

These three countries are included in the list of states, which
faced the most serious problems in the area of food safety. The
experts note that Azerbaijan and Georgia have achieved noticeable
successes in hunger-fight within the last 10 years. In 1993-1995,
2,5 mln people were underfed in these countries. In 2001,2003, their
number has reduced to 700-800 thsd people.

The FAO Report notes that in the countries with transient economy,
60% of the population faced a sharp shortage of food. In Russia,
Ukraine and Belarus, the number of those underfed makes up 3%.

It is underlines in the Report that such countries as Estonia, Croatia,
Lithuania and Macedonia have succeeded to solve the tasks, set by the
international community in food safety. Latvia, Russia, Slovenia and
Turkmenistan achieved a progress in it . In the experts’ opinion,
these states will be able to reach the goal, set in 1996, that is,
to twice reduce the number of underfed people in the world by 2015.

The main conclusion of the Report is that the international community
will not manage to fulfill the goal, set at the World Food Summit
in Rome in 1996, i.e. to twice reduce the number of hungry people
in the world by 2015. It failed to reach successes in this area for
the recent 10 years. The number of hungry people for this period
has increased by 23 mln and reached 820 mln people, while 70% of
population in some African countries hungers.