Lower Mekong Food Security Database

According to 2014 statistics from the United Nations World Food Programme, there are about 805 million people in the world who are undernourished and hungry, with over 500 million of them from Asia and the Pacific region. Compare this to the one billion count in 2009, and 2014’s numbers would suggest that we have come a long way in achieving this goal. But the challenge still remains because 800 million people is still a significant number – almost the population of a regular-sized country.

The Zero Hunger Challenge (ZHC), launched in 2012 during the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, joins the roster of pro-food, anti-hunger campaigns. The ZHC campaigns for the promotion of sustainable food systems and zero food waste, with the ultimate goal of providing 100% access to adequate food all year round.

In January this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) together with the Vietnamese government, launched the National Zero Hunger Challenge. Vietnam is the fourth country in Asia to have launched a National ZHC and the second among the Lower Mekong Sub-region (LMR) countries, Myanmar being the first to launch in October 2014.

The launching is a remarkable milestone. According to the UN, Southeast Asia is the first among the developing regions in the world to have reached the hunger reduction target for 2015. Among the countries in the region, Vietnam is one of the top performers, and of all the MDGs, the first goal of reducing hunger is where the country has made tremendous progress. The launching of the National ZHC is a testimony of the government’s commitment to ensuring that the country’s population is well-fed and nourished. Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also explained that the campaign is also particularly meant to focus on providing food and proper nutrition to the isolated communities, ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups of Vietnam.

What it means to feed the hungry

But the Zero Hunger Challenge is more than feeding the hungry. It also seeks to address the more important question of how to feed them.

In a bigger picture, to feed the hungry means to improve agricultural production so there is enough supply to meet national and global demands, and that such supply can be accessed with as much ease and convenience as possible. And in many ways, this is also related to rural development particularly in Vietnam and the other LMR countries where more than 50% of the population rely on agriculture. As suggested in a policy brief titled “Agriculture and Rural Development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region” by Aparna Singh, the rural areas are where a major portion of the population can be found and where agriculture is most active, and therefore where development should be focused.

UN’s announcement that Southeast Asia is the first to have achieved the hunger reduction target speaks a lot about the region’s agricultural performance, particularly of the significant improvements in agriculture in the LMR countries, which produce a big chunk of Southeast Asia's agricultural products.

Over the years, the region has enhanced regional cooperation in order to encourage cross-border trade and easier knowledge and technology sharing of agricultural practices. Reforms targeting the improvement of agricultural infrastructure such as farm-to-market roads and irrigation systems have also made significant contributions.

What else is needed to feed the hungry

But even the United Nations insists that the achievements reached as far as feeding the hungry are not enough. The fact that a significant 800 million are still undernourished means that there is a need to address the remaining gaps in agriculture and food security.

Alongside the Zero Hunger Challenge is the campaign to make agricultural communities, such as the ones in the LMR countries to be more resilient to economic and environmental shocks. As mentioned by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the new challenges now for Vietnam are improving the global competitiveness of their produce and adapting to climate change.

In Singh's policy brief, he recommends shifting staple grains to high value commodities that have a higher price in the market because of the increasing demand. There is also a need for a more comprehensive policy on land use and natural resource management to develop enhance resiliency to the impacts of the changing climate. And finally, more support should be provided to smallholder and household farmers so that they will have more access to resources and agricultural technologies.

The Zero Hunger Challenge may be viewed as another complementary support to achieving the MDGs. But it is also a reminder that to feed the hungry means to improve the mechanisms for production and the capacity of the food growers themselves to produce more than adequate supply for all.