Ending conflict vital to food security: UN

Rome, May 15: Ending violent conflict, bolstering peace and stability and preventing future strife are all crucial to combating rising levels of chronic hunger in the world, the UN has said in a new report.

“Ending conflict is vital,” said the UN World Food Programme’s Chief of Food Systems Steven Were Omamo who masterminded the report.

“But preventing food crises also requires long-term investment in education, infrastructure and economic growth,” Were Omamo said.

While increases in per capita income help countries limit the scale of food crises, even low-income countries can prevent crises by making such long-term investments, he said.

Bringing lasting peace to conflict zones could cut annual food assistance costs by up to 50 per cent, the newly released “World Food Assistance: Preventing Food Crises” report found.

A one-point increase in peace and stability on the World Bank’s measure of these conditions - known as the Index of Political Stability and Absence of Violence - could result in a saving of nearly $3 billion (based on 2016 data), according to the report. In real terms, this would mean WFP would save $300 million a year in Syria, $205 million annually in Yemen and $85 million each year in Somalia, the report said. IANS