Ending world hunger sustainably by 2030 will require an estimated $267 billion per year for investments in rural and urban areas and in social protection, the United Nations said on Friday. Roughly $160 annually would be needed for each person living in extreme poverty over the next 15 years to provide access to food and improve livelihoods. “Given that this is more or less equivalent to 0.3 percent of the global GDP, I personally think it is a relatively small price to pay to end hunger,” said José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The report was published by FAO, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agriculture Development ahead of a major international conference on financing for development, starting on 13 July in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Worldwide, almost 800 million people are still chronically undernourished, most of them in rural areas. “The message of the report is clear: if we adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach, by 2030, we would still have more than 650 million people suffering from hunger”, Graziano da Silva said, “This is why we are championing an approach that combines social protection with additional targeted investments in rural development, agriculture and urban areas that will chiefly benefit the poor,” he explained. Social protection measures would cost an additional $116 billion per year – two thirds of them intended for rural areas – while some $151 billion in additional pro-poor investments would be required to stimulate income generation benefiting the world’s poorest. The report notes that social protection in the form of cash transfers are an effective means of eliminating hunger. This money could make more diverse and thus healthier diets affordable to the poor, improving nutrition and also fighting micronutrient deficiencies. Additional investment should ensure that people living in extreme poverty will eventually be able to provide for themselves. According to the report, it is necessary “to boost both private and public investment to raise rural and agricultural productivity and incomes, as well as to promote more productive, sustainable and inclusive food systems.” Small-scale agricultural producers and rural entrepreneurs could make a decisive difference. However, formal systems of credit and insurance often discriminate against them, especially small family farmers.“ Eliminating hunger is a key issue of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the new post-2015 agenda, to be adopted by world leaders in September to replace the UN Millennium Development Goals. (ab)