2 Zero Hunger

The agricultural sector is facing several challenges: a growing population, urbanisation, and rising household income. These factors will continually increase the demand for food and put great pressure on this sector. Although there is enough food for all in the world, not all can afford to buy. According to the UN, extreme poverty and hunger are mainly problems of rural areas where people depend directly or indirectly on agriculture, fisheries, or forestry as a source of income and food.

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger was a millennium development goal (MDG) from 2000 to 2015 and there was a positive evolution. However, there was a need for the 2030 Agenda to expand the targets of this goal and consider a more systemic approach.

Thus, SDG 2 integrates and links different dimensions: ending hunger and improving nutrition, achieving food security, and promoting sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture. Beyond the strong connection with poverty, SDG 2 is also related to health, climate change, gender equality, labour, land degradation, water scarcity, biofuel production, and inequality issues.

Investment and innovation should have a crucial role in increasing sustainable agricultural production, improving the global supply chain, decreasing food losses and waste, and ensuring permanent access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people. Governments also have an important role in ensuring policy coherence, in particular with Common Agricultural Policy, and in developing policy to support small-scale farming.

Education, in particular vocational training, is fundamental for the process of raising agriculture productivity, acquiring knowledge, skills, and competences, innovation and research, facilitating access to land, credit, and business development services and improving conditions of agricultural and rural employment.

Targets ▼

2.1 By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
2.2 By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.
2.3 By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
2.4 By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
2.5 By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.
2.a Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries.
2.b Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round
2.c Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.

Action Area

Solidarity action

In recent decades, substantial progress has been made in reducing hunger and undernutrition. However, malnutrition and hunger are still a reality, especially in rural regions and developing countries. Unfortunately, this isn’t only a problem in developing countries. Food insecurity associated with inequalities in high-income countries is a serious challenge. For example, in 2013, 7.2% of the population in developed countries used food banks (IDS, 2013). Actions supporting campaigns to eradicate hunger, providing food assistance through food banks, and reducing food waste are important and must be associated with effective government social policies.
Sustainable production

Sustainable management of land, healthy soils, water, and plant genetic resources is crucial to ensure a reliable and sustainable food production system. Sustainable agricultural practices should promote long term fertility and productivity of soil at economically viable levels. As agricultural systems will face the challenge of climate change, investments in innovation, research, and development of new technologies will be needed. Individuals could promote sustainable production investing in companies which develop new technologies, research agriculture advancements and climate change, or produce their food using sustainable agricultural practices.
Conscious consumption

Conscious consumption is related to the concern of each individual with consumption of local products in order to contribute to the local economy and small producers, and at the same time, to reduce the ecological footprint, while also consuming healthy food. All stages of the food supply chain must be considered (production, processing and packaging, distribution, consumption, and disposal) to create healthy and sustainable diets. In this context, individuals can contribute by maintaining a conscious diet, buying seasonal food from local farmers, learning how to cook healthy food according to the food wheel, and reducing their meat consumption.

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Learning Objectives ▼

Cognitive ▼

The learner knows about hunger and malnutrition and their main physical and psychological effects on human life, and about specific vulnerable groups.
The learner knows about the amount and distribution of hunger and malnutrition locally, nationally and globally, currently as well as historically.
The learner knows the main drivers and root causes for hunger at the individual, local, national and global level.
The learner knows principles of sustainable agriculture and understands the need for legal rights to have land and property as necessary conditions to promote it.
The learner understands the need for sustainable agriculture to combat hunger and malnutrition worldwide and knows about other strategies to combat hunger, malnutrition and poor diets.

Socio-emotional ▼

The learner is able to communicate on the issues and connections between combating hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture and improved nutrition.
The learner is able to collaborate with others to encourage and to empower them to combat hunger and to promote sustainable agriculture and improved nutrition.
The learner is able to create a vision for a world without hunger and malnutrition.
The learner is able to reflect on their own values and deal with diverging values, attitudes and strategies in relation to combating hunger and malnutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.
The learner is able to feel empathy, responsibility and solidarity for and with people suffering from hunger and malnutrition.

Behavioural ▼

The learner is able to evaluate and implement actions personally and locally to combat hunger and to promote sustainable agriculture.
The learner is able to evaluate, participate in and influence decision-making related to public policies concerning the combat against hunger and malnutrition and the promotion of sustainable agriculture.
The learner is able to evaluate, participate in and influence decision-making related to management strategies of local, national and international enterprises concerning the combat against hunger and malnutrition and the promotion of sustainable agriculture.
The learner is able to take on critically their role as an active global citizen in the challenge of combating hunger.
The learner is able to change their production and consumption practices in order to contribute to the combat against hunger and the promotion of sustainable agriculture.

Organisational Perspective ▼

Hunger eradication, improving nutrition, achieving food security, and promoting sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture is an ambitious goal. Organisations can play an important role to address this issue but it requires strong leadership and a responsible attitude.

Organisations can be a player along the food supply chain just like farmers, producers, traders, retailers, investors, or consumers. Whatever role they play, organisations can establish fair and sustainable food systems developing solidarity actions and supporting sustainable production and conscious consumption.

Within their social responsibility policy, organisations can develop several solidarity actions, namely financial or food donations at local institutions, encouraging their employees to volunteer for the community, distribution of food, and creating awareness campaigns to reduce food waste among their employees or the local community.

Organisations which work directly in the agricultural or food sector can implement sustainable agricultural practices to increase the resilience of this sector. Other organisations can establish partnerships with stakeholders who support these practices or support small local farmers.

All organisations, as consumers, can provide health and nutrition support services to their employees, offer healthy food options in their workplace, or buy food from local producers contributing to the development of the local economy.

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End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Targets ▼

Action Area

Learning Objectives ▼

Cognitive ▼

Socio-emotional ▼

Behavioural ▼

Organisational Perspective ▼

Find out more

United Nations - SDG Knowledge - SDG2

United Nations - Facts & Figures - SDG2

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations

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End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Action Area

Solidarity action

Sustainable production

Conscious consumption

Organisational Perspective ▼