Costa Rica meets Millennium Development Goal for hunger reduction

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) named Costa Rica among 72 countries (of 129 evaluated) that achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of cutting in half by a 2015 deadline the number of residents living in situations of hunger.

FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva presented the award to Costa Rica for reaching the goal from 1990 to 2015. Costa Rica’s Agriculture Vice Minister José Salazar Rojas received the award at an international ceremony held Sunday in Rome, convened by the U.N.

Salazar thanked the U.N. agency and said the Costa Rica’s government “is commited to continue advancing in actions and public policies to eradicate hunger permanently by 2025 and will continue to ensure the food security of its population.”

Graziano da Silva at the ceremony said that since 1990, 216 million people have been freed from hunger, but almost 800 million people still suffer from chronic undernourishment. FAO defines this as a state of dietary energy deprivation lasting over one year.

“One out of nine people on the planet still do not have enough food to conduct active, healthy and productive lives. It is not acceptable,” he said.

In addition to Cosa Rica other regional countries were awarded including Bolivia, Mexico, Panama and Suriname.