About 120 million Chinese people suffer from malnutrition and
the country's poverty problems are still pressing, said Vice
Agriculture Minister Zhang Baowen at a conference to mark the 23rd
World Food Day on
Thursday.
As the world most populous nation, China had taken a series of
measures to feed its people well. In 1996, China's food production
exceeded 500 million tons for the first time. Output of major
agricultural products met demand and even provided a surplus in
bumper harvests.
Statistics show the country's poor population had decreased from
250 million in 1978 to 28.2 million in 2002.
However, China's anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs were
still seriously challenged by population growth, lack of land and
water resources, and erosion and desertification, said Zhang at the
conference in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's
Guizhou Province.
Gamal M. Ahmed, representative of Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in China, Mongolia and
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said all countries
should take concrete measures to eliminate poverty and hunger, and
to safeguard the basic human right to nutrition.
Statistics show 840 million people around the world suffer from
poverty and malnutrition, with 799 million in developing
nations.
In 1979, FAO decided to start an annual World Food Day, which
has fallen on Oct. 16 since 1981. The 2003 World Food Day theme is
"International Alliance Against Hunger."
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2003)