 The world produces 17% more food per person today than
30 years ago
 The rate of food production has increased faster than the
rate of population growth for the past 2 decades
 The world produced enough to provide every human with
nearly 2900 calories per day
 Most live in the Asia Pacific region – 553 million
 Africa – 227 million
 Latin America – 47 million
 Developed countries – 16 million
 Women produce more than half of all food worldwide,
accounting for 43% of the global agricultural labor force
 In Sub-Saharan Africa, women grow 80-90% of the food
 Women also process food crops, collect water and
firewood, and prepare and cook food
 A “hidden hunger” occurs when people have enough to eat
but don’t receive adequate nutrition from their food
 More than 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient
defficiency
 Hunger also affects education and the economy
 Hungry people struggle to focus, learn, and contribute to
society
 A study in Guatemala found that boys who received
fortified food before the age of 3 grew up to have wages
46% higher than those who didn’t
 The 2014 Global Hunger Index showed that hunger in
developing countries has fallen by 39% since 1990
 There are still dramatic differences from region to region
 There are 904 million obese people in developing
countries, compared to 557 million in industrialized nations
 Obesity rates in Latin America, the Middle East, and North
Africa are on par with Europe
 Obesity rates since 1980 have almost doubled in China and
Mexico, and risen by a third in South Africa
 This is a result of globalization, better economies, and
people making poor food choices
 People who produce the world’s food don’t necessarily eat
that food
 Cash crops often can’t be eaten – tobacco, coffee, tea
 Half of the world’s hungry people are from small farming
communities, where families are prone to drought and
flood
 Nature is only one factor when it comes to hunger
 Communities that have infrastructure in place – irrigation
systems, storage facilities, and roads to connect them to
markets – are in better shape when disaster hits
 Food crises are more often linked to human causes, such as
civil war or ethnic cleansing, than natural disaster
 Food may be available but people may suffer from lack of
access or lack of income
 They can’t afford food or they can’t get to local markets
(might live in a food desert)
 Industrial agriculture does increase production, but this
model of farming is not sustainable and has already proven
unable to end hunger in many countries
 It has a narrow focus on production and does not look at
root causes
 It can ruin the environment
 Topsoil is eroded at 13 to 40 times faster than nature can
replenish it
 Runoff from chemical fertilizers has created more than 400
aquatic “dead zones”
 Organic and sustainable farming practices are proving
effective in many parts of the world
 “Agroecology” enhances dignity, knowledge, and
capacities of food growers
 Addresses powerlessness at root of hunger
 Builds on millennia of traditional knowledge from
indigenous people and adds in latest breakthroughs in
modern science
 Frees farmers from dependency on corporate suppliers
 Some countries may feel threatened by U.S. aid, since food aid may
be used as a tool of foreign policy
 U.S. food aid is predominantly “tied aid,” meaning the food must be
grown, processed, and packaged in t eh U.S. and shipped overseas
 This benefits U.S. private interests and makes food shipments more
costly
 Many European donor nations have “untied” their food aid
 This is a “band aid” fix that may be critical in times of crisis, but isn’t
getting to the root of the problem in the hungry countries