The Issue of Sustainability in Third World Food Production (TheDistinguishedl Lecture)

In spite of the fact that food production in developingcountries doubled over the last 25 years undernutrition is still widelyspread. At the beginning of the eighties, according to FAO, 335 to 494million people in developing countries suffered from seriousundernutrition the difference being due to different concepts todetermine undernutrition on which scientist were unable to find aconsensus.) Unfortunately there is no recent comprehensive analysis ofthe food situation comparable to those of previous World Food Surveysbut it can be taken for sure that the absolute number of undernourishedhas increased. According to unofficial FAO sources a figure of 870million was estimated for 1990 (22 percent of the total population indeveloping countries) using the same concept that led to the figure of494 million in 1979-81 (23 percent of the total population in developingcountries) which means that most probably the number of undernourishedincreased at a rate slightly less than population growth.