FAO: Social Protection Key in Tackling Hunger, Poverty

Social protection schemes offer a faster track to ending hunger and can help gradually improve the livelihood of the world’s poor, according to a new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report, known as the State of Food and Agriculture , is published annually by the UN agency, with this year’s edition launched in Rome on Tuesday. Social protection programmes encompass activities such as social assistance, which involves providing cash or in-kind transfer to the poor; social insurance for the protection of vulnerable populations against shocks such as weather vagaries or price volatility; and providing labour market protection through unemployment payments or training. According to Benjamin Davis, the Deputy-Director of the FAO's Agricultural Development Economics Division, every dollar spent locally in social protection programmes can lead up to US$2.5 of economic impact. The report finds that social protection schemes benefit 2.1 billion people in the developing world and contribute toward keeping 150 million people out of extreme poverty – defined on less than US$1.25 a day. Nevertheless, only about one-third of the world’s poorest are accorded any form of social protection, with coverage lowest in the regions where poverty rates are highest. For instance, in Sub-Saharan...