Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued a National Action Program on Zero Hunger, aiming to ensure enough food and nutrition for all citizens. The program is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No 2 which focuses on sustainable solutions to eradicate hunger in all its forms by 2030 and to achieve food security. The program prioritizes the reduction of malnutrition among children under two by 2025. More specifically, a target has been set to reduce the ratio of children under two who are a low height for their age (stunted) to less than 20% across most of the country, and 25% for children in mountainous areas in the northern and Central Highland regions. The target for children under two who are a low weight for their height or a low weight for their age has been set at below 5. Social policies to support pregnant women and provide children with adequate nutrition are also included in the program. Under the National Action Program on Zero Hunger, to develop a sustainable food system, farmers should become members of co-operatives and production chains to allow small-scale farming households to enjoy increased productivity and incomes and avoid waste through the use of new technologies. Improving natural disaster forecasting and warnings is also one of the targets. Funding will be sourced from the national program on poverty reduction, and is expected to cost over VND545 billion ($23.7 million), including nearly VND34 billion ($1.5 million) for the first phase from 2018-20, and over VN?511 billion ($22.2 million) for the second phase from 2021-25. Multiple ministries have been put in charge of implementing the program. Prime Minister Phuc said he wanted a legal framework to be finalized this year so the program could be piloted in the northwest region, the south central coastal region and the Mekong Delta region. The program would then be expanded to other provinces and cities next year, before official implementation in 2020. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam’s poverty rate fell from 46.9% in 1990-92 to 9% in 2010-12. The number of poor households nationwide had fallen to 7% at the end of 2017, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Vietnam had achieved the first phase of Sustainable Development Goal No 2 by cutting its poverty rate by half in 2015, and looking to address poverty as a whole by 2020. However, malnutrition remains a big problem, especially in rural and mountainous areas. The Zero Hunger Challenge was launched by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012. The Zero Hunger vision reflects five elements from within the sustainable development goals, which taken together, can end hunger, eliminate all forms of malnutrition, and build inclusive and sustainable food systems. (VNS June 16)
