VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is among 38 countries meeting internationally-set hunger eradication targets, chalking up successes ahead of a deadline set for 2015, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its report on June 12.

Rice field in southern Kien Giang Province. (Source: VNA)

The Southeast Asian country has already succeeded in achieving both Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of hungry people and World Food Summit (WFS) goal of reducing by half the absolute number of undernourished people in the periods of 1990-1992 and 2010-2012, the report said.

FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva praised the countries’ successes, saying that they are leading the way to a better future.

He urged all countries to keep up the momentum, aiming for the complete eradication of hunger in keeping with the Zero Hunger Challenge initiative launched last year by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon.

According to FAO’s statistics, the global hunger rate declined over the past decade, but 870 million people all over the world are still undernourished and millions of others, including great number of children, suffer consequences of vitamin and mineral deficiencies

The MDGs set targets to reduce the number of people living on less than 1.25 USD a day and create jobs for employees working with a low-income level.

On June 16, FAO will honour the 38 countries that reached the anti-hunger targets in a ceremony in Rome, Italy.

Source: Vietnam Plus