Santo Domingo – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has formally removed the Dominican Republic from its global Hunger Map, following verified data showing the nation’s undernourishment prevalence has dropped to under 2.5% for the 2023–2025 monitoring period. The landmark milestone was announced during the country’s official World Food Day commemoration, presided over by President Luis Abinader. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu attended the ceremony to personally recognize the nation’s decades-long gains in eradicating food insecurity, and specifically highlighted the Dominican government’s consistent leadership in designing and implementing targeted food security frameworks. Qu lauded the delisting as a truly exceptional achievement that could not have been realized without coordinated, cross-stakeholder action spanning federal policymakers, smallholder agricultural producers, civil society groups, and both public and private industry partners. He emphasized that the Dominican Republic’s success serves as a tangible, evidence-based model for other nations grappling with systemic food access challenges, proving that sustained political will, long-term continuity of public food security policies, and cross-institutional collaboration can drastically reduce hunger even amid global supply chain disruptions and climate-related agricultural pressures. As a gesture of appreciation for Qu’s global advocacy and technical support for the Dominican Republic’s food system strengthening efforts, President Abinader presented him with the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella, a high state honor conferred under official Decree No. 753-26, in recognition of his contributions to global anti-hunger initiatives. The FAO’s resident representative in the Dominican Republic, Rodrigo Castañeda, was also awarded the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus at the Grand Officer grade via Decree No. 731-26, honoring his years of on-the-ground work advancing local food security programs and facilitating international development cooperation. During his address at the event, Qu further urged all participating government stakeholders to scale up targeted investments in agricultural innovation, agronomic science, and modern farming technology, while expanding cross-border collaborative frameworks to boost global food output and equitable access to nutritious food for vulnerable populations. The full World Food Day gathering concluded with a formal public reaffirmation from Dominican leadership to continue refining national food security policies, scaling up sustainable domestic agricultural production, and safeguarding the hard-won progress that earned the nation its removal from the FAO Hunger Map.
Abinader honors FAO Chief Qu Dongyu with Dominican Republic’s highest merit order
