ROME, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The world is falling behind in its efforts to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, with the situation made even more difficult by the coronavirus pandemic, the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report released Tuesday.

The UN calls the 17 Sustainable Development Goals a "blueprint" toward a more sustainable future. They were set in 2015.

The global coronavirus outbreak "is making the achievement of these (Sustainable Development Goal) targets even challenging," according to the report entitled "Tracking Progress on Food and Agriculture-related SDG indicators 2020."

According to FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero, countries need to understand how the current situation is changing due to the coronavirus pandemic and other factors in order to compensate effectively.

"Knowing more about where we are and how slowly or quickly we are moving will help us focus our efforts and actions to target interventions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," Torero said in a statement.

FAO said that hunger and other forms of food security are worsening for the first time in years, and limited data shows that small-scale food producers are failing to increase productivity in step with larger farmers.

FAO is headed by Director-General Qu Dongyu, a former vice minister of China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Qu told a forum in July that as "'One UN', we can bring real change at the country level and accelerate achieving the SDGs." Enditem

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