The Problem Of World Hunger And An Empty Stomach

There are over 7.6 billion people in this world, living in 195 different countries, speaking roughly 6,500 languages, and around 4,300 religions exist. These statistics make the world a beautiful place to live in because of its incredible diversity.

As the world is now already cladding with many problems. Every country has its own set of problems. Some have International issues, Economic Issues, conflicts, health issues, high inflation, poverty, and the list goes on and on. But there is one problem that is common for all and i.e., “The Problem Of Hunger”.

According to UN Hunger Report, “Hunger is the term used to define periods when the population is experiencing severe food insecurity meaning that they go for entire days without eating due to lack of money, lack of access to food, or other resources”.

Hunger means when a living being has food insecurity, they are not able to fill their empty stomach with enough food. Food insecurity means when you don’t know from where & when the next meal you’ll get.

One thing that needs attention is that hunger is not about a shortage of food instead it is inaccessible by all. It’s shocking to know that the world produces enough food to feed but still, 690 million people are under hunger and malnutrition. Isn’t it’s a matter of concern?

What Causes The Problem Of Hunger?

The problem of hunger is deep-rooted and it has covered many countries under his ambush. The main hunger hotspots are Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, India, and many other such countries.

Food is an essential part of life, it provides us energy and power to live. It makes us healthy and disease-free. Everyone feels hungry. Hunger indicates that the body needs nourishment, but if it can’t be fulfilled on time, it’ll be undernourished.

People who don’t get enough food for a long period can be victims of malnutrition. Malnutrition means people having food with a lack of nutrition value for health development.

Malnutrition is not the same as hunger but they often experience it together. As I said, hunger for a long period causes malnutrition. Some common symptoms and effects of malnutrition are- Fatigue, Dizziness, underweight, Poor Immunity, etc.

Malnutrition affects every age of people from infants to old age. Infants or teenagers have this issue because of improper nutrients and old age has this because of their poor appetite.

To reduce malnutrition in children mothers should feed infants with their milk because mothers’ milk has more nutritional value than packed food. But unfortunately, this trend has seen a sharp decline in the past few years.

There are many reasons why people remain hungry and undernourished let’s have a look:-

Extreme Poverty

According to the World Bank, Estimates for global poverty are 9.2% of the World population which means 689 million people live in extreme poverty on $1.90 or less a day. Poverty or lack of money has pushed a large section of the population under starvation.

Lack of money has restricted the population to buy their daily needs. Poverty has hit them so badly that they can’t even afford nutritional food. There is a place in HAITI Country in the Caribbean Sea, where some people eat cookies made from the MUD. They made a mixture of mud, butter, salt, and make food from them out of it, without any nutritional value.

Poverty has burdened the people of the rural region, it has restricted their ability to invest in their development. Moreover, 70% of the global food supply is rendered by small farmers and fishermen or rural areas. Yet they are the most vulnerable section and themselves can’t afford the proper meal.

Climate Change

A change in the atmosphere has affected food production severely. Sudden rises in the temperature, CO2, famine, floods are waning food productivity. Many crops need special climatic conditions, for instance, Wheat needs less water, and rice needs more water.

Climatic conditions also affect animals because it disturbs the food chain and globally human being consume 350 million tons of meat every year.

Nonetheless, this meat production is a large source of greenhouse gases emission and affecting the climate condition. It takes 75 times more energy to produce meat than corn. The United States is the leading country in the consumption of about 124 kilograms per person per year, following Australia with 122 kilograms, and Argentina 109 kilograms.

Furthermore, drought, floods, storms are destroying standing crops heavily. They are affecting the coastal areas and islands and leave the population with bare hands.

Major Conflicts

War and conflict between the two countries also left its population in the problem of hunger. In the world, different countries have different specializations, like if India is a Milk, pulses, and jute producing country and Pakistan is among the largest producer of sugarcane.

A recent conflict between India and Pakistan has made the prices of pulses skyrocket rise in Pakistan because India refuses to trade with them. A conflict causes a severe disruption in economic activity.

Some country is using starvation as a weapon to make its enemy down. Putting sanctions on different countries and making trade barriers raising the prices of food in that country. This diplomacy makes the enemy vulnerable and bound them to surrender.

Moreover, the world is busy with military spending and making an atomic bomb. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, “World Military Spending Has Increased to Almost $2 trillion in 2020”. For what? Just to kill each other. Aren’t they already?

These conflicts and excess military spending has left North Korea with food scarcity. Currently, North Korea is facing a food shortage of 8,60,000 tonnes this year. The price of a packet of coffee has gone up to $100.

Venezuela is the live example of high inflation, the prices rise steeply that some sections of the country are bound to eat rotten meat to fulfill the tummy.

Massive Food Wastage

As I mentioned above, the problem of hunger is not about the shortage of food but of inaccessibility. And Somewhere we are responsible for this. The world produces enough food to nourish every person on this globe.

• 8 facts to know about Food waste and Hunger

Unfortunately, the real picture is more disquieting. Nearly 1/3rd of the produce food is never consumed by anyone every year, either left squandered or spoiled.

Many developed countries waste the food by uneaten or leave them in the refrigerator. After a while, it gets lifeless and people threw them away in the dustbin.

Similarly, in developing countries, food waste occurs in harvest time. Due to a lack of infrastructure for storage, tons of crops are spoiled in the field itself.

Approximately $1 trillion of food is lost or wasted every year which is 1/3rd of the world’s food. Most people waste the food at a wedding function or birthday party, they make a variety of food that remains uneaten.

An amazing fact is that if wasted food were a country, it will be the largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world after the US and China because the energy goes into production. The major countries waste the food almost as much as the entire net food of sub-Saharan Africa each year.

These are some causes of hunger In the world but the question is can we overcome the situation? Can we defeat the hunger forever from this world?

How To Terminate The Problem Of Hunger From The Globe?

“Around 11 people die of hunger each minute”, Oxfam Report Says. These statistics have increased after the pandemic and probably will increase more.

Improve The Transportation Capabilities

As I said, food is inaccessible to people. To overcome this situation the world has to improve the conveyance in every part of the world and introduced free trade in terms of food supply. The earth is spherical and to improve accessibility, the seaways and airways should be strengthened.

As food can be both perishable and non-perishable and for a long route goods refrigeration facilities should be increased. The world should stand for the poor and vulnerable countries so that enough food can be accessed by the right people at the right time.

Expand The Harvest Land

With industrialization and modernization, the harvest land has shrunken. The area where the crop was produced earlier has now been replaced by buildings, apartments, and industries.

Also, we should reduce the consumption of meat, because one hectare of rice or potato cropland can feed between 19 to 20 people in a year, whereas beef & lamb in one hectare can only feed 1 to 2 people.

Stop Wasting The Food

In a recent survey, it’s found that the size of refrigerator has increased the wastage. Because we over-purchase the food and keep it on the fridge. After a while, it gets lifeless and unused and we dump it.

Also, the size of the plate has increased, we put many dishes on one plate due to its large size but later when we failed to eat, we simply dump the rest into the garbage. We have to purchase or take only food we can eat because there are some people like us in the world who are searching the garbage.

Contribution

There are 689 million people are in poverty and a little bit of financial aid can help them to purchase food for a night. Many organizations are working on reducing hunger some of them are-

• Nand care foundation India
• Copia Foundation Us
• World Food Programme
• Care
• Bread For the world
• Action Against Hunger
• Akshay Patra
• UNICEF
• Why Hunger

You can visit the websites and can pay your contribution to reviving the world from hunger. As it is said, if you can’t feed a hundred then feed only one.

Spend Money On Necessary Things

Spending on reducing hunger rather than heavy military expenditure could solve the problem of starvation. As I said, the world spends trillions of dollars on defense and military. If it spends on reducing hunger, we can defeat the hunger for 6 times.

The food prices have increased by 40% globally after the pandemic and this is a very tough time for all of us. While you are in the post many people have died of hunger and many of them are sleeping with an empty stomach. You have to be grateful for whatever you have because someone can’t even afford you have.

For bringing a change in the world first you have to change your habit. Stop wasting the food, help needy people, purchase only that quantity which you can consume.

Hunger is not an issue of charity, but an issue of justice.

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