Many people in the world still suffer from hunger even though plenty of food is produced in the world to adequately nourish the entire world population. So why are there still areas on the globe that suffer because of lack of food? Multiple factors contribute to this. For one, food cost money to import to nations that cannot produce it themselves. Most of the nations that need food are mostly developing nations that cannot afford to import large quantities of food for there population. Secondly, some nations are located in areas that are not adequate for starting an agricultural system of there own, and are also not located near any developed nations that can easily send them food.
According to the Feeding America Organization, 25 - 40% of food grown, processed and transported in the US will never be consumed. That is close to 70 billion pounds of food waste per year, just in the US. If we could find a way to eradicate all of that food loss, we could feed all of the hungry people that live in the US, as well as help hungry people in other nations across the globe.
Also, some poor nations should be able to follow the example that was set by Cuba. When the vast majority of Cuba's food imports were cut off due to political reasons; the people of Cuba turned to localized, small-time agriculture as opposed to large scale commercial agriculture. This move made it easier for people to obtain locally grown fruits and vegetables at a low price. Almost all of the food consumed by Cuba in that time-period was grown on local, urban farms. Other poor nations that are located in agriculturally viable areas should emulate this model. Developed nations alone will not be able to solve the world hunger problem; areas of low food production must innovate and find new ways to produce there own food locally.
Solomon,
ReplyDeleteIt seems this week that a lot of us are grappling with the confusing contrast between the production of a plethora of cheap food, and the fact that many in the world still go hungry. It think the problem in our food system that has lead to this conundrum is so fast, that it is simply mind-boggling to think of solutions. Your last paragraph spoke to a possible solution, but I don't know if the Cuban example can be replicated in every poor country in the world -- the time, labor, and land-intensive nature of that project was only initiated due to a total lack of food, something I find unlikely to happen again.