식량안보: 마다가스카 가뭄 상황
Ending hunger and malnutrition is one of the UN's "global goals" for achieving a better world by the year 2030.
In the southern parts of Madagascar, however, hundreds of thousands of people are facing severe levels of hunger, in the wake of successive droughts in the area.
UN agencies are addressing this issue, but more time and money are needed to fully resolve the problem.
UN Up adn Close this week: our Oh Sooyoung.
Some one-point-four million people in southern Madagascar are facing serious levels of hunger, according to the United Nations.
The impact of consecutive drought worsened by El Nino this year has caused significant declines in the production of staple foods: maize, cassava and rice.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that one in three households have resorted to begging, are selling off farming tools and livestock... or are even consuming their supplies of seeds.
“In the past, we had food to eat. Now, we have nothing to eat. There’s no rain. So we can’t plant. All the crops have disappeared. There’s nothing."
Warning that the food crisis is set to persist next year, various UN agencies have joined forces to provide an immediate response: first, by assisting 850-thousand people in the worst-affected regions.
In addition to supplying food, the agencies also provide drought- and disease-resistant seeds and tools,... in addition to teaching efficient farming techniques to area residents.
The UN agencies aim to expand their assistance in the region, but they still need more than 54 million U.S. dollars in additional funding to provide adequate support.
“We have been trying to respond to emergencies, but also at the same time to build the resistance capacities of the communities, to be able to take care of themselves."
Achieving secure access to food and proper nutrition is one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030.
At a conference in Rome on Wednesday, UN officials spoke out on the urgency of the issue and the necessity of tackling climate change, which severely impacts farming and food supplies.
"Unless we address their challenges at there now, their presence, their humanitarian need, then the goals of the SDGs are an illusive vision."
The UN says nearly 800 million people around the world suffer from chronic hunger.
Ninety-eight percent of them live in developing countries, where most of the population depends on agriculture as a primary source of food and income.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
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