Nutrition Report 2022
Global hunger - and how Sufosec wants to combat it
In 2022, the Alliance published its first nutrition report. It describes the global hunger problem and its context; and it shows how the Alliance organizations want to improve food security. The report contains a baseline survey of the situation at the start of the program and a scientific classification.
Below you can read the summary and find links to the full report.
Shocking figures - hunger on the rise
Up to 828 million people are affected by hunger, an increase of
around 150 million between 2019 and 2021. Until 2015, the share of the
malnourished and hungry people has steadily fallen slightly. Since then, however
The number of people in the world has risen again and today reaches ten percent of the world’s population!
These latest figures on the global food situation from the FAO underline the
Results of the Sufosec analysis in this report: A survey from 2021
in 16 countries among 14,000 households participating in the Sufosec program,
revealed shocking results: At the start of the project, one in four
household is affected by hunger on average, and two out of three households
only had limited access to food. Based on these
data, Sufosec is involved in the project areas.
Women hit harder - malnutrition
is becoming increasingly female
Women often feed themselves last and often from what is left over after feeding
children and husbands. We see this fact
in all of Sufosec’s project regions. Crises exacerbate inequality
to the detriment of the weaker members of society. During the COVID crisis,
the gap between women and men widened further, so that today ten percent
more women than men are affected by malnutrition.
Women, men, the elderly and children have to eat differently,
in order to stay healthy. However, in a nutrition system that is becoming increasingly uniform
, the needs of adult, affluent
men are the main focus. One consequence of this is that, since 2012, anaemia has affected almost one in
three women aged between 15 and 49 worldwide:
That’s 571 million women – without any progress in ten years!
In a high percentage of women, anaemia is a result of unbalanced
and poor nutrition. This is another challenge that
Sufosec is tackling.
The driving forces behind the undesirable development
- climate, crises, wrong priorities
The COVID pandemic and the Ukraine war are the current accelerants,
which have dramatically exacerbated the trend towards more and more hunger
. However, food speculation, which has repeatedly led to price explosions
, has been the fundamental cause of hunger and malnutrition for years. Added to this are long and medium-term processes such as the
climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, where arable land is used for
export-oriented, resource-wasting meat and
milk production or, worse, for the cultivation of plant-based fuels
, there is a lack of land for food cultivation.
Only if we tackle these challenges in an integrated way can we reverse the
trend in the long term and achieve the sustainable development goal of “Zero
hunger” by 2030. Sufosec is actively involved in this change of direction.
The goal of "zero hunger" must be achieved
These misguided approaches and the recent setbacks show that great efforts must continue to be made in politics,
business and civil society to successfully
combat hunger.
Only together will politics, business and civil society be able to develop solutions
that will finally make hunger history and achieve the
goal of “zero hunger”. Progress was made by 2015. Hunger
is man-made – which also means we can end it.
The contribution of the Sufosec Alliance
- Local food systems and agroecology
The Sufosec Alliance is on a joint journey to develop and implement solutions to the
current challenges of overcoming malnutrition
and hunger. Our experience as
NGOs in development cooperation and scientific studies
show that agroecological methods and the promotion of local
food systems are the most promising approaches to combating hunger and
malnutrition in an integrated manner.
We can no longer afford approaches that seek to achieve one goal at the expense of another
. Food security, climate protection and the conservation
of species must be tackled simultaneously and in an integrated manner, as
agroecology does. Switzerland should also place such approaches at the heart
of its development cooperation and agricultural policy.
In the Sufosec project areas, around 72 percent of people were malnourished
or affected by hunger.
By the end of 2024, the alliance has set itself the goal of providing sufficient
and healthy food in the long term, thereby reducing malnutrition and hunger
by 20 percent. Sufosec can be measured against this goal!
The initial results are encouraging: Sufosec has achieved that
52,000 families have been able to apply agroecological measures for the first time every year
and thus sustainably improve their nutritional situation. This alone
has reduced the risk of suffering from malnutrition by up to 16 percent.
As a result, up to 8,300 families a year have been able to obtain sufficient, sustainable
and healthy food. The Sufosec alliance
will intensify and expand these positive results.
Through agroecology alone, up to
16%
Reduction in malnutrition and hunger (plus 8,300 families) in the Sufosec projects
According to the Sufosec survey
291'000
households use at least one
agroecological
farming method.
Around 52,000
additional households are added every year.
Target by 2024!
-20%
Hungry and malnourished people
in the Sufosec projects