阅读理解 2010 is a significant date in the world’s fight against global hunger; it marks 30 years since the first World Food Day and 65 years since the founding of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization． Progress made Caroline Hurford is from the U．N．’s World Food Program．She says in the 30 years since the first World Food Day, real progress has been made．According to the Global Hunger Index 2010, the number of hungry people in the world has gone down by one quarter since 1990． But Hurford says some stumbling blocks have been hit in recent years．“There has been a slight dropping off in the number of hungry people in the late 1990s but then it rose again of course during the financial crisis of 2007－2008,” she said． Fighting hunger is the first of eight Millennium Development Goals that world nations set ten years ago．Now the 2015 deadline is fast approaching and many people say they fear the target will not be met． Some countries and regions are making progress．South Asia has made the largest improvements and many African countries have also made advances, including Ghana, Ethiopia, and Angola． But improvements are not the same globally．The worst situation has appeared in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been influenced by conflict and political instability． Hurford says environmental disasters, like drought, and conflict are two major barriers to fighting hunger．“Clearly conflict is a huge problem as far as the actual growing of produce and crops is concerned,” she said． Future steps needed Edgardo Valenzuela is from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization．He says emergency aid for countries is important but investment in agriculture needs to be a top task． “ This kind of short term relief is not enough because for these countries which are in endless crisis, or in long crisis, there is a need to be able to develop a system to help them to be able to plant and grow their food, because otherwise they will never have a sustainable way to remove hunger, ” said Valenzuela． | 
