Halving hunger by 2015 'within reach,' says FAO

(ANSA) - Rome, September 16 - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Tuesday that the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of hungry people in the world by 2015 was "within reach". In a joint report with its sister Rome-based food agencies, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), it said the number of hungry people worldwide has declined by more than 100 million over the last decade and by more than 200 million since 1990-92.
    But the annual report, the State of Food Insecurity in the World, also stressed that 805 million people in the world, or one in nine, suffer from hunger.
    The trend in hunger reduction in developing countries means that the MDG of halving the proportion of undernourished people by 2015 is within reach, "if appropriate and immediate efforts are stepped up," the report said. Up to now 63 developing countries have reached the MDG target and six more are on track to reach it by 2015.