LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — There are many causes to world hunger, some of the biggest reasons being poverty, the interruption of war in everyday life, discrimination (those who cannot get an education or job due to their ethnicity) and the exploitation of the powerless (those who are not able to protect themselves). Among the effects of chronic hunger are malnourishment and vulnerability to illnesses.
The following is a list of solutions to world hunger compiled from articles by Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, and Pierre Ferrari, president and CEO of Heifer International, an organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty through agricultural training and gifts of livestock.
1. Stop Land Grabbing
Land grabbing is when a wealthy company or government buys land to produce food, biofuels or to use as a profitable investment for other people. This often happens in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Oceania and Eastern Europe. Land grabbing leads to the land’s natives having nowhere to live and grow their own crops.
2. Stop Eating Meat
Forty percent of grain crops are going to feed livestock and fish. The limited resources that are left are going to producing meat.
3. Support Small Farmers
If African farmers were to be trained in methods such as better rice planting and irrigation, and begin to start using better seeds and fertilizer, it could begin to revitalize African agriculture. Heifer International has been working with small farming communities to raise productivity and create a surplus that can be sold or provided to other hungry people.
4. Feed Infants
“Eliminating malnutrition is achievable. It’s within our reach,” Bill Gates told the London summit, and many companies and rich nations are backing an African government-led plan to tackle it. Parents need to be educated on good eating techniques and how to get the right nutrients from the beginning of pregnancy. Malnutrition is responsible for an 11-percent-decline in GDP in affected countries.
5. Get Rid of Biotech
Instead of relying on technology we could begin to gene-splice crops so that they could still be grown in case of a drought or flood. Pigs and chickens and start to have their digestive systems altered so that they do not eat the same food as humans.
6. Downsize Poverty
Economic stability leads to less people living in hunger. Successful poverty reduction in China has led some economists to predict there will be no more hungry people there by the year 2020.
7. Partner Up
If companies and organizations partner up millions could be raised to help when food is needed the most, for example when a natural disaster hits.
8. Start with Women
Women are the leaders of families. If women have the right food to cook and know how to properly prepare a healthy meal then children will get to eat and so will the rest of her family.
9. Provide School Lunches
If schools were able to provide lunch for students not only would hunger and malnourishment decrease but attendance would also increase.
10. Be a Humanitarian
Small amounts of money from individual people can add up and make a huge difference. If people were to donate a small amount to a familiar nonprofit whose mission is to end world hunger it would decrease by an unbelievable amount.
Decreasing world hunger is possible if everyone came together as one. It may take some time but starting off small could make a world of a difference.
Sources: Freedom from Hunger, Slow Food, CNN, Huff Post
Photo: Wellness Industry