FAO hails progress made by Oman in achieving food security

Rome: The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has commended the progress made by the Sultanate towards achieving food security.

The statement was made by the FAO in a regional report prepared for discussion during the 53rd session of Near East Region Conference, held online and will conclude on Tuesday.

The report said that the Sultanate made considerable progress in limiting the “lack of food security and malnutrition”.

The international organisation added that the rate of food shortage in the Sultanate declined from 10.5 percent to 6.8 per cent in the period from 2004 to 2018 and, accordingly, the number of the malnourished stood at 0.03 million.

The report noted that the number of people suffering from malnutrition in the Near East Region stood at 98.8 million from a total of 809.9 million in the world.

Malnutrition spreads in the Arab region at a rate of 13.2 percent, comprising 55 million men, women and children, said the FAO report.

The FAO explained that this means that one out of every eight people suffers hunger and consumes less food than what is sufficient to generate enough levels of energy that is suitable to sustain a natural and healthy life.