Thought-provoking articles that deal with hunger and the issues involved in meeting the hunger challenge.
In writing Diet for a Small Planet, I learned one simple truth: Hunger is not caused by a scarcity of food but a scarcity of democracy. But that realization was only the beginning, for then I had to ask: What does a democracy look like that enables citizens to have a real voice in securing life’s essentials? Does it exist anywhere? Is it possible or a pipe dream? With hunger on the rise here in the United States—one in 10 of us is now turning to food stamps—these questions take on new urgency.
Feeling hungry? Maybe that’s because of all the news, from around the world, about food today — how much people produce, how much more they need, how much it’s going to cost, how much of an effect it will have on climate change, and vice versa. (..) There’s actually encouraging news on the food front from south Sudan, where citizens are voting now to become an independent nation. While much of Africa is under intense pressure to provide food for its people, the U.N. World Food Programme says south Sudan could become a food exporter and end its chronic food dependency within a decade. But immediately after the vote, this area is likely to need more food aid, according to the U.N.
The United Nations' World Food Program tries to stop the poorest of the poor from going hungry. But its budget has dwindled during the crisis as donor countries focus on their own economic problems. Aid workers face the unpleasant task of deciding who gets food -- and who doesn't. John Aylieff was once shot at in Burundi in eastern Africa, by a gunman standing on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Aylieff only survived because his driver aimed the vehicle directly at the gunman.
The youngsters of Wodo Dobili receive frequent lessons in what it is to be an outsider. “When our children go to school the others beat them up, so they come back here,” says Jean-Claude Mele, a 21-year-old who is one of the estimated 500,000 members of central Africa’s various Pygmy ethnic groups.
The EU food sector can remain competitive and tackle challenges that lay ahead by forging strong partnerships (..). The congress theme was People Planet Partnership, and Monica Marshall, deputy director and global head of public-private partnerships of the UN World Food Programme, threw down the gauntlet to the industry to engage in more public-private partnerships in developing countries, and to “do well by doing good”. “A generation ago companies had to chose between doing well and doing good”, she said. “Now they do both, but only because they do not have the choice. Food security is the first threshold on the way out of poverty, and poverty is not good for anyone’s business.”