Keynote Speaker: Robert Johansson, Chief Economist, US Department of Agriculture

FAO’s 2019 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report highlights that global food insecurity and malnutrition, including obesity, persist and remain stubbornly high with approximately 820 million people continuing to suffer from hunger and nearly 2 billion people experiencing some form of malnutrition.

According to the report, which offers a significant update on the shifting global milieu that is affecting people's food security and nutrition, economic slowdowns and downturns are among the key drivers of this worsening trend. The uneven pace of economic recovery and continuing poor economic performance in many countries after the 2008–2009 global economic downturn, are also undermining efforts to end hunger and malnutrition.