De Montfort University is a global academic hub chair and as such publishes a progress report on both the individual United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as well as a comprehensive report on all the goals.

Our 2025 report will show what the university has been doing in terms of research, teaching, partnerships and engagement in helping to meet those targets and raising awareness of the progress towards the 2030 aims.

This is the progress report for SDG 2 Zero Hunger. The full report on all the SDGs can be viewed here.

UN PROGRESS REPORT ON SDG 2 in 2025

PROGRESS on combatting hunger has been difficult with 45% per cent of the targets likely to have regressed by 2030 on the 2015 figures – and a further 10% of targets show stagnation.

However, around 15% of targets are on track to be met and a further 30 per sent have shown moderate progress.

The UN 2025 report states: “Global hunger and food insecurity have declined in recent years but remain above pre-pandemic levels.

“An estimated 8.2 per cent of the global population still face hunger and about 28 per cent – nearly 2.3 billion people – were moderately or severely food insecure.

“Hundreds of millions of children and women are affected by malnutrition, and dietary diversity remains inadequate for both women and young children.

“Getting Goal 2 on track requires urgent action to strengthen food systems, support small-scale producers, improve services, ensure access to nutritious diets and address structural drivers of food price volatility.”

 MAJOR DMU NEWS ON SDG 2 IN 2025

DMU expert to lead efforts to cut food poverty in Leicester

WORK to eliminate food poverty in Leicester is to be led by an expert from De Montfort University.

Professor Jonathan Davies has been appointed as independent chair of Feeding Leicester, a network of organisations working together to ensure access to food for all.

He said: “A big part of our work is to research ways cities can support sustainable development, including the elimination of poverty and inequality and giving voice to marginalised groups. Feeding Leicester is part of the Feeding Britain Network, set up a decade ago.

DMU hosts conference showing true picture of poverty in Leicester

THE “devastating” challenge of living in poverty has been highlighted at a conference held by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).

Experts, charity workers and campaigners gathered on campus for a series of workshops and discussions which laid bare the real and growing financial struggles felt across Leicester.

Ivan Browne, Professor of Public Health and Social Determinants of Health at DMU, said that the issue was most affecting children with more than 50% of Leicester's children are affected by deprivation in Leicester.

MAJOR DMU RESEARCH ON SDG 2 IN 2025

From food emergency to poverty prevention: The changing function of food banks in Leicester

Arrieta T and Davies J S (2025)

WHILE food banks continue to support people with the provision of emergency food parcels, they increasingly support the prevention of poverty in different ways.

Poverty prevention refers to the wide range of functions that food banks are undertaking in relation to social welfare, including employability and financial management support. T

he increased need that the city has experienced recently, in particular after the Covid19 pandemic, led to the development of the Leicester Food Partnership (LFP), an informal arrangement between 22 food banks. This policy brief focuses on the LFP and its poverty prevention work in local communities.

https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.27304020

Advancing Agricultural Practices: Analyzing the Role of Robotics in Corn Farming

Moshayedi, A. J., Khan, A. S., Geng, K., Hu, J., Kolahdooz, A. (2025)

THE need for robots in corn farming arises from the complexity and labor-intensive nature of tasks such as planting, weeding, harvesting, and monitoring.

Robots offer precision, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making, addressing challenges in resource management, crop health, and productivity to meet the demands of modern agriculture.

In this paper, the current landscape of robotics in corn farming, exploring various robotic systems, their functionalities, and their potential impacts on agricultural practices were studied.

https://doi.org/10.5829/ije.2025.38.07a.07

Transformative trends: commercial platforms revolutionizing rice farming in Nigeria’s agricultural value chain

Sanusi, M. S., Mayokun, O. M., Sunmonu, M. O., Yerima, S., Mobolaji, D., and Olaoye, J. O. (2025)

THIS review explores recent advancements in Nigeria's rice farming sector, focusing on the integration of digitalization within the agricultural value chain.

By conducting a systematic analysis of 78 publications from the past 14 years, the study investigates how digital platforms, such as AgricTech apps and e-commerce solutions, are transforming rice farming by connecting farmers, processors, marketers, and fabricators to streamline operations and boost efficiency.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2025.2473757

The potential role of Vertical Plant Farms in contributing to the environmental sustainability and security of the global food system

Turner, David (2025)

VERTICAL plant farms (VPF), or more colloquially ‘vertical farms’ or ‘plant factories’ are innovative indoor crop production structures utilising the vertical dimension of space, usually with the application of artificial lighting and soil-less growing media.

There has been significant interest in the virtues of VPFs in the context of environmental sustainability and resource use efficiency in recent years.

VPFs have been demonstrated to utilise significantly less land, fertiliser, water and pesticides than conventional counterparts.

The potential role of Vertical Plant Farms in contributing to the environmental sustainability and security of the global food system

Smart Farming Solutions: A User-Friendly GUI for Maize Tassel Estimation Using YOLO With Dynamic and Fixed Labelling, Featuring Video Support

Moshayedi, A.J. et al. (2025)

THE integration of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs) has significantly advanced image processing and remote sensing, particularly in precision agriculture.

These technologies enhance data collection and agricultural yield estimation, benefiting banks, insurance companies, and government agencies in decision-making for budget allocation and quality assessments.

This study addresses the challenge of accurately quantifying corn production by developing an enhanced YOLO-v8-based deep learning model, incorporating dynamic and fixed labeling techniques, tested on 810 images and video data for real-time detection.

https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3554984

A molecular perspective on horticultural trade: lessons from India for international species authentication

Saxena, A., Nazar, N., Slater, A., Sgamma, T., and Sundaresan, V. (2025)

THE global horticultural industry faces increasing challenges related to species authentication, regulatory compliance, and trade transparency.

Misidentification of plant species can result in economic losses, compromised consumer safety, and breaches of the regulatory framework.

Traditional authentication methods, including morphological and chemical analyses, often lack the accuracy and reproducibility required for reliable identification.

This review evaluates the potential of DNA barcoding as a robust molecular tool for species authentication in the horticultural trade.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2025.2579570