Agriculture%20at%20a%20Crossroads_Global%20Report%20(English)

32 | IAASTD Global Report
risk of dying than those from richer households (WHO,
2003b).
Hunger
At the turn of the millennium, the world produced sufficient
food calories to feed everyone, mainly because of increased
efficiency brought about by the evolving plant science industry
and innovative agricultural methods, including pesticides.
The dietary energy supply for the global population
was estimated to be 2803 kcal per person per day, comfortably
within the range of average energy intake considered
adequate for healthy living. Yet close to 800 million people
were undernourished. Uneven distribution and consumption
patterns across regions and among population groups, however,
meant that the average actual food supply ranged from
3273 kcal per capita per diem in industrialized countries
to 2677 in developing countries. Even these averages mask
tremendous disparities. Dietary energy supply per capita per
diem in Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Eritrea was less than half that in Austria, Greece,
Portugal and the United States (FAO, 2004a).
While global production of food calories has outpaced
population growth, thanks to improved farming methods
and advances in plant and animal sciences, the number of
people potentially supported by the world’s food supply depends
heavily on the kind of diet people consumed. There
are vast regional differences in the prevalence of undernourishment
(see Figure 1-15), which is increasing the vulnerability
to hunger and famine.
It has been calculated that the global food supply in
1993 was adequate to feed 112% of the world population
on a near vegetarian diet, but only 74% of the population
on a diet composed of 15% animal foods and just 56%
of the population on a diet in which 25% of calories were
derived from animal products (Uvin, 1995; DeRose et al.,
1998). By the early 1990s, roughly 40% of the world’s grain
supply was consumed in animal feed, with grain-to-livestock
ratios conservatively estimated at two kilos of grain to produce
one kilo of chicken, four kilos for one kilo of pork and
seven kilos for one kilo of beef (Messer and DeRose, 1998).
Demand for meat is increasing in many parts of the world
and feedlot livestock production will cause ever heavier demands
on food resources as the proportion of industrially
produced animal products increases.
Almost 60% of the world’s undernourished people live
in South Asia, whereas the highest incidence of undernourishment
is in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately
one-third of the population is underfed and hunger is on
the increase (FAO, 2006a). In sub-Saharan Africa, food production
per capita has not grown in the past three decades.
Indeed, it declined during the 1970s and has remained stagnant
ever since (FAO, 2006a).
Poor households spend a proportionately larger share
of their income on food than do wealthier households, and
this budget share tends to decline as income rises. It is not
unexpected, therefore, that per capita GDP is correlated
with underweight of children under 5 (Haddad, 2000; see
Figure 1-16).
In low-income countries, average expenditure on food,
beverages and tobacco represented 53% of household spending,
compared to 35% in middle-income and 17% in high
income countries. The budget share ranged from 73% of
total household budget in Tanzania to less than 10% in the
United States. The composition of the foodstuffs purchased
varied according to income levels as well, with households
in low-income countries spending significant portions (over
one-third) of their budget on cereals, and fruit and vegetables,
including roots and tubers, whereas meat, dairy and
tobacco took up higher shares in high-income countries.
Low value staple foods accounted for more than a quarter
of consumers’ total food budget in low-income countries,
compared to less than one-eighth in wealthier countries
Figure 1-15. Proportion of the population unable to acquire sufficient calories to meet their daily caloric requirements, 2003 estimates.
Source: Rosegrant et al., 2006.