From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#3 (December 1998), Watch page

FAO
210 million Africans go hungry

Despite further increases in overall food production levels in Africa, the number of hungry people in the region is continuing to rise, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "Our most recent data on Africa south of the Sahara show an increase in malnourished people from 196 million in 1990-92 to 210 million in 1994-96," said Mr. Jacques Vercueil, an FAO Director, upon the release in late November of the agency's State of Food and Agriculture 1998 report.

The largest absolute numbers of undernourished people are in Asia, says the report, but sub-Saharan Africa still has the largest proportion of the population that is undernourished. Besides the problem of weather-related crop damage, the poorest countries face foreign exchange constraints that prevent the import of enough food to meet their needs.

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