By 2050, the percentage of the world's children who are malnourished could drop dramatically from the current 31 percent to 11 percent, if policymakers respond to the global challenge of hunger. However, rates will drop only modestly if there are serious policy or technology failures in the next half-century. These new findings are from a paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research on October 29. "We have come to a major crossroads for the world food situation. Fifty years from now, one child in four could be suffering from chronic hunger, or it could drop to one child in ten. The outcome depends on decisions made now and in the next few years," said Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and lead author of the paper.