‘India has over 11 mn hungry mouths’

South Asia has become the world’s hunger hotspot with India’s anti-hunger performance leaving a lot to be desired, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said. South Asia with 303 million of the 497.1 million hungry people in Asia-Pacific, is the main hunger hotspot, FAO’s Annual’ State of Food Insecurity in the World Report 2001’ said.

India with over one billion people had some 11 million additional hungry people in 1997-99 compared to the base year (1996), it said. India and Nepal have suffered in terms of the number of hungry people while situation has slightly improved in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the report added. Two thirds of the 780 million undernourished people in the developing world live in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. FAO’s senior government officers meeting for the Asia-pacific region that opened here on may 13, 2002 is reviewing the state of food insecurity in the region and discussing ways to tackle the problem. FAO director-general jacques diouf, however, said ‘we cannot reduce poverty without peace.’ Mountain areas are home to most of the armed conflicts as well as many of the world’s poorest and least food-secure populations, he added. ‘‘As we begin commemorating the international year of mountains 2002, conflict may be the single greatest obstacle to achieving our goals,’’ he said. Armed conflicts have emerged as serious threats to mountain ecosystems and their inhabitants with 23 of the 27 major armed conflicts in the world in the year 1999 being fought in mountain regions, he said.