Printer-friendly version
By Miriam Raftery
It’s the season for peace, goodwill toward men. But one out of every eight people in our world goes to bed hungry each night. Yet the world actually produces enough food to feed all of the 7 billion people on earth.
So why are so many going hungry?
Some people living in poverty can’t afford to buy enough food for their families or themselves, so many children are malnourished.
Some countries lack agricultural infrastructure, such as roads and irrigation. Natural disasters such as floods, storms and drought are increasing, causing food shortages. Wars have displaced millions of people and some fields have been contaminated by these conflicts.
Yet one third of all food produced is wasted and never consumed.
One third of all food produced (1.3 billion tons) is never consumed. This food wastage represents a missed opportunity to improve global food security in a world where one in 8 is hungry.
Producing this food also uses up precious natural resources that we need to feed the planet. Each year, food that is produced but not eaten guzzles up a volume of water equivalent to the annual flow of Russia's Volga River. Producing this food also adds 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, with consequences for the climate and, ultimately, for food production.
The United Nations’ World Food Program has a hunger quiz. For every person that takes the quiz, a hungry child will be fed. You can take the quiz at http://quiz.wfp.org/
Want to know more about hunger? Go to wfp.org/hunger and find out about the Zero Hunger Challenge.
Recent comments