World hunger

The food we produce globally, could feed all the people on the planet. Yet, more than 800 million people around the world suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and starvation. Two thirds of them live in just two regions: southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Why is that? Many people in these regions are really poor; there is not as much industry as in richer regions in Europe or North America.

The majority of the people living in the poorer, less-industrialised regions work as farmers. But often they don’t have easy access to water or high-quality soil, and they can’t afford to buy farmland, seeds, or fertilizers. Nor do they have advanced farming equipment, so a lot of work is still done manually. Because of that, the amount of food they produce - the yield - is usually quite low. An already low yield can sometimes become even lower in the event of bad weather, pests, or natural disasters that destroy the crops.

All these factors make it very difficult for these farmers to compete in a global market with farmers from other regions, who have the means and the tools to produce much higher yields, and to sell their crops all over the globe. To get money, the poorer farmers might decide to grow crops that can be sold to other countries, for example coffee beans, cotton, or cocoa. Even crops that could be food for local people, such as corn, are frequently also exported to other parts of the world. There, they are used instead to make fuel, or to feed animals that are raised for meat. When not much food is available locally, food prices increase.

Wages in the low-industrialised regions are usually very low, and when food is scarce and expensive, people often can’t afford even the basic products. If war breaks out in a region like this, things can get even worse. People can then be forced to leave their homes, jobs, and farms. This further limits their access to food, and pushes them further into poverty. When people don’t have enough to eat, they become malnourished, weak, and often ill.

They can’t study or work to earn money. If they have no money, they can’t afford to buy food, so they become even weaker. Hunger and poverty become a vicious cycle. People living in the poorer, less-industrialised regions are the ones most affected by hunger. But many people in richer, economically stable areas also struggle to put food on their tables.

As much as 20% of the population in some of the richer countries don’t know when their next meal is going to be. This ongoing uncertainty is known as FOOD INSECURITY, and the main reason for it is poverty. Hunger and starvation are among the biggest health risks in the world, and cause millions of deaths every year. Our planet provides us with great resources, but they are not evenly distributed, and not everyone has equal access to them. If we learn how to best use and share these resources, we could maybe bring an end to poverty, and eliminate world hunger.