Over 2.3B Face Food Insecurity Globally, 203M Undernourished
APP
Islamabad: The global food crisis has reached alarming levels, with more than 2.3 billion people facing food insecurity and over 203 million undernourished in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states, the Coordinator General of COMSTECH, Dr M. Iqbal Choudhary, warned on Wednesday.
Addressing the International Symposium on “Sustainable Agriculture for Food and Nutritional Security under Climate Change Scenario” at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Prof. Choudhary called for urgent scientific collaboration among OIC countries to combat hunger, climate shocks, and agricultural decline.
The symposium was jointly organised by ICCBS and the Sindh Innovation, Research, and Education Network (SIREN), attracting participants from across the Muslim world and beyond.
Prof. Choudhary cited sobering statistics, noting that in 2023, 733 million people worldwide experienced hunger, while nearly 864 million suffered extreme food deprivation. He said the crisis is particularly severe in OIC nations, where 11.2 percent of the population lacks adequate nutrition.
Highlighting COMSTECH’s initiatives, he pointed to the COMSTECH Forum on Environment and Ecosystem Restoration (CFEER), which has conducted climate-resilient agriculture programmes in Niger, Uganda, Benin, and Somalia, with upcoming sessions in Indonesia and East Africa focusing on urban food systems and ecosystem regeneration.
He also outlined youth-focused programmes in sustainable agriculture, food safety, and biotechnology, including research fellowships, capacity-building projects, and the Halal Products Testing Programme, which aims to improve nutrition, trade standards, and scientific infrastructure across OIC states.
Prof. Choudhary announced that the third COMSTECH Biotechnology Youth Forum will be held in Dhaka this September, spotlighting frontier technologies such as CRISPR to enhance crop resilience and food security.
“With hunger and climate shocks converging across developing nations, we need a scientific revolution in agriculture, food systems, and climate adaptation to secure a sustainable and sovereign future for our people,” he said.
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