Denouncing the huge social and economic costs of malnutrition, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva yesterday called for resolute efforts to eradicate malnutrition as well as hunger from around the world.

In a recorded statement marking the launch of FAO's flagship annual publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA), Graziano da Silva said that although the world has registered some progress on hunger, one form of malnutrition, there was still "a long way ahead".

“FAO's message is that we must strive for nothing less than the eradication of hunger and malnutrition,” he declared.

The report notes that although some 870 million people were still hungry in the world in 2010-2012, this is just a fraction of the billions of people whose health, wellbeing and lives are blighted by malnutrition.

Two billion people suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiencies, while 1.4 billion are overweight, of whom 500 million are obese, according to SOFA.  Twenty six percent of all children under five are stunted and 31 percent suffer from Vitamin A deficiency.

The report urges policymakers to address malnutrition through changes in food systems, public health and education, as well as improvements in supply chains and agricultural productivity.

The 2013 SOFA recognizes that knowledge about many of the issues covered in the report remains incomplete.  Many countries lack basic data and indicators for evaluating and monitoring the effectiveness of initiatives attempting to improve food quality.

The report also points out that there are still many questions about the effectiveness of home gardens, the role of gender, the fortification of food with micronutrients, technological innovations, biodiversity and the role of local foods in improving nutrition.

There are also gaps in researchers’ understanding of consumer choice and nutritional outcomes.  “Concepts such as 'dietary diversity' and 'healthy diets' remain fuzzy and difficult to measure objectively,” the report says.