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Undernourishment in Indonesia on the rise, FAO estimates
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the prevalence of undernourishment in Indonesia rose to 6.5 percent in 2020, while the rate of stunting among under-5-year-olds remains “very high”.
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Two girls sit in a pushcart as they ask for alms from passersby along a street in Jakarta on Sept. 23, 2021. (AFP/Goh Chai Hin)
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ndonesia may have seen a rise in the prevalence of undernourishment, while the rate of stunting among children under 5 years of age remains “very high” amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reported.
According to FAO estimates, the three-year moving average on the national prevalence of undernourishment, a core indicator of hunger, rose to 6.5 percent in 2020 from 6.4 percent a year earlier. That equates to around 17.6 million people.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused an economic slump across the world, led to a rise in the prevalence of undernourishment, according to the FAO.
“In many parts of the world, the pandemic has triggered brutal recessions, jeopardized access to food and affected the entire food system,” Rajendra Aryal, the FAO representative for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, told The Jakarta Post in a text message on Thursday.
“The pandemic has exposed profound inequalities and injustices of agrifood systems in our society.”
The trend seen in Indonesia was in line with that seen at least across the Asia-Pacific region, where the pandemic led to a 17 percent increase in the number of undernourished to 376 million, undoing 20 years of progress, the FAO reported.
Read also: Food security on the rise, yet pandemic takes its toll
