Global Hunger Problem

                  To the hungry man, a piece of bread is face of god” - Gandhi

According to recently published Global Hunger Index, India is ranked 63^rd  (out of 120)  behind the sub Saharan countries which is a grave matter of concern.

 Global Hunger Index is kind of measurement of upto what extent a country is succeeding or failing in fight against hunger.

Global hunger index is calculated using 3 indicators:

1. Proportion of people undernourished
2. Proportion of children five who are under weight ( > 40% in cae of India)
3. Mortality rate of children under 6 years age

According to another survey, 1/7^th of the total world population goes hungry every day. Which means the problem of hunger has to be addressed globally too.

One of the fundamental acts of civilization is to ensure that people get enough food as hunger is not negotiable thing. We need to identify the causes and effective implementation of beautifully crafted policies.

Is it the scarcity of food the reason for worldwide hunger? Yes it is but the major factor is unavailability of food. Enough food is produced globally so that no one goes hungry but the problem is food doesn’t reach the needy.  We need to stress on efficient management of food so that no one stays hungry.

 Hunger: is not merely going without food for few hours but upto such an extent that it is deleterious to one’s health. Going hungry consistently for days deprives body of the essential nutrients, proteins and energy that is needde to keep going. This leads to decrease in mental and physical capabilities of the person.

Effect of hunger on society:

1. Mother giving birth to malnourished child as she suffers from hunger, the malnourished child instead of becoming human capital for the country becomes burden.
2. Children death due to malnutrition(inc IMR, failure of the state)
3. Impedes economic growth of the country

Why are we facing the challenge?

1. Poverty : lows earningà low purchasing parityàless spending on nutritious foodàmalnutrition
2. Illiteracy : lack of knowledgeà lack of required skillàdon’t get well paid jobsàless earning and the above cycle again repeats
3. Climate change : uncertain weather patterns, drought, early rain or no rain or heavy rainfall destroys standing cropà food scarcityà price riseà not affordable by poor peopleà hunger state
4. Failure to invest in agriculture development technologies by the governmentàno other source of income or support to farmers if the standing crop fails due to climate uncertainty
5. Ethnic conflicts, violence: unstable societiesà unstable food productionàunstable income sourceà poverty riseàless spending by poor people on foodà hunger increases
6. Social inequality: unequal acces to resources like education, food (women/girl child discriminated)
7. Low nutritional and educational status of women: poor health of mother àmalnourished childàliability for the family to take care of

What can be done?

The traditional approach to fight against hunger needs revamp. We need some innovative approaches and better implementation strategies.

Innovative approaches need to address other issues along with the fight against hunger as we shall see now.

1.      Instead of giving aid only (the traditional approach) we should help the people to become self sufficient.

 For e.g. In Africa aid given in the form of food grains is sored in food banks. The storage facilities being provided by the aid givers. At the time of bad harvest grains are given as loan to be returned with interest after the next harvest season. This encourages them to work hard to grow better crops that provide high yield. Food grain banks provide employment to the in-charge of the banks that protect, manage the bank, and keep account of the records of the loans.

Also the surplus grain production is given to school for school feeding programmers. This has dual benefits- 1. More number of students enrolling to school

                 2. Healthy nutritious food to children

                 3.childre getting education(additional benefit)

  

2.      enabling the victims

Hunger victims (generally the small marginal farmers) don’t have storage facilities for storing surplus production which gets wasted. Awareness programmes regarding where they can sell their farm produce, how to adopt better agriculture technologies to increase the yield should be conducted.

3.      Contract farming

Farmers get guaranteed market for their produce. A price is fixed about fixed quantity of produce between the farmer and the contractor which is agreed upon by both of them for future produce. The contractor has to pay even if crop dies because of climate condition which assures farmer of continuous income throughout the year. In case of higher yield the entire produce has to be sold at the fixed price, farmer doesn’t get the extra money for surplus crop produced.

4.      Better agriculture practices:

Training, equipments, tools along with storage facilities to enble farmers to store surplus crop which can be used during the time of crsis

5.      Innovative approach

a)      The school feeding programme helps to eliminate hunger and also gives add on benefit of education to children. Also it protects children from getting into begging for satisfying the hunger. It also curbs child labor. School feeding programme can be associated with small and marginal farmers to give them platform to sell their produce.

For instance, Brazil runs school feeding programmes for which 1/3^rd of food is to be mandatorily procured from small and marginal farmers.

b)      Call for food

Recently started in US. Left over or excess food at homes, hotels, restaurants can be given to the needy just by making a simple phone call. The volunteers come at your doorsteps to collect the food and then distribute to the needy.

6.      Involving other fronts to participate.

We can involve NGOs, non-profit organizations, social activist to come forward and contribute for the human cause. Their ideas and initiatives should be encouraged and implemented. E.g. Bill and Melinda gates foundation- providing food or millions

7.      Government reforms.

Having immensely talented bureaucrats crafting world class, policies for people’s welfare is not the end. Well intentioned schemes should be properly implemented to get desired results.better outcomes of policiesà beeter crop yield-àdecrease in hunger state

8.      Awareness and education :

 professional courses on agriculture development, agribussines, nutrirional science, to fulfill the need of smart and dedicated people to fight against hunger, develop new solutions, design new strategies.

 By Jyoti Dilip Raijada