Who would have thought that in the 21st century the problem of hunger will be paramount on our planet? However, this is our reality. According to the UN, 1.2 billion people in the world are experiencing food shortages, and the scale of the tragedy is getting larger. The UN is trying to combat it by taking various measures, but so far with little success. Could someone be benefiting from global hunger? Assessment of the scale of global hunger is a complex and lengthy process. Often, many officials do not have the latest information. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is going to change that with its new project "Voices of the hungry." UN wants people speak about hunger, rather than provide dry numbers, reports and studies prepared by different companies. According to Carlo Cafiero, FAO Senior Statistician, while the grading system for hunger is of great importance, it provides information with significant delays. Carlo Cafiero said that collection, verification, processing and distribution of the information may take two to three years. Add to this the fact that such surveys, even in developed countries, are not conducted every year (about once every five years), and it turns out that we do not have the actual data and do not understand the real current situation. This became evident during the crisis with food prices. In 2007, experts predicted a global economic recession, and food prices went up. As a consequence, the expectations of drastically reduced food consumption have increased. The statistician said that only a few years later it became clear that, for example, in India, China and some other developing countries, economic growth has not slowed down. The worst-case scenario is not always realized, and the forecast based on the model came out wrong. The new project "Voices of the hungry" will yield more accurate and timely information. The scale of hunger will be evaluated based on annual surveys. In the coming months the project will be tested in Angola, Ethiopia, Niger and Malawi. People will be polled by phone or in personal conversations. This way we will be able to get a representative sample and understand how serious the problem of hunger is in the families of the informants, said Carlo Cafiero. Respondents will be asked, for example, whether they worry about getting food, whether they miss a meal or do not eat all day. There are eight such questions covering the situation in the last year. The FAO statistician said that the poll would not be subjective because the information collected would be evaluated by highly qualified experts. There period between the survey and provision of information to FAO will not exceed three months. Continue reading at: http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/22-03-2013/124139-hunger_plan...