Hunger & Poverty-badi mushkil hai

A subdued hello from India.

You will wonder why subdued?

I have just finished my lunch which was quite wholesome with protein, multicoloured vegetables, fibre, nutrients, curds and finally some seasonal fruits. My stomach is full. All of a sudden my mentally roving eyes expose me to a huge section of people including women and children looking desperately for some leftovers, anything even from the waste bins. These people are dangerously weak, thin and literally a shadow of themselves in dark and dingy places. Everything appears to be rotten and stale. Life for them is surely a curse, living hell without any hope and help. I feel ashamed now, angry with myself and others like me for eating 3 meals, snacks, fruits, milk, sweets and such.

Honestly, most of us fall in this category of shame, anger, helplessness and inabilities. We do nothing else to help the cause but keep enjoying good and healthy food. Quite unmindful of end-to-end food value-chain where probably the most critical contributor literally gets enough to afford food before the money gets spent and then same as before year after year.

This is the Badi Mushkil that I am trying to share with you to seek support and solutions. Poverty leads to hunger and that becomes a vicious circle. A simple solution often prescribed is to kill poverty and hunger will be automatically conquered. However, the on ground situation is extremely complex and multi-dimensional. India with its huge population, in spite of continued support from Governments, Business Houses, Global/Local Foundations, NGOs/CSOs, is struggling to alleviate Poverty fully to overcome Hunger.

The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published jointly by five UN organisations on July 6 yet again presents worrisome estimates of widespread and worsening food insecurity in India.

Using the data presented in the report, it can be estimated that about 56 crore people, 40.6% of the population, in India suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in 2019-21. The proportion of the population that is severely food insecure in in 2019-21. The proportion of the population that is severely food insecure in the country has risen from 20.3% in 2018-20 to 22.3% in 2019-21. The corresponding proportion for the world was about 10.7% in 2019-21. India alone accounts for 37% of the of the world’s total severely food-insecure population.

(Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/business-news/food-insecurity-and-hunger-continue-to-plague-india-1125469.html)

Global Food Security Safety Net is frailer and deteriorating. The UNHCR found that at the end of 2021, a record 27.1 million people were living as refugees, while the number of asylum seekers rose 11 per cent to 4.6 million. And for the 15th straight year, the number of people living displaced within their displaced within their own country due to conflict swelled, hitting 53.2 million.

"Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue."

(Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-offbeat/hunger-crisis-could-force-record-global-displacement-un-1118548.html)

UN FAO's mandate is to improve nutrition, increase agricultural productivity, raise the standard of living in rural populations and contribute to global economic growth.

To meet the demands posed by major global trends in agricultural development and challenges faced by member nations, FAO has identified key priorities on which it is best placed to intervene. A comprehensive review of the Organization’s comparative advantages was undertaken which enabled strategic objectives to be set, representing the main areas of work on which FAO will concentrate its efforts in striving to achieve its vision and global goals.

• Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition

FAO’s challenge: there is sufficient capacity in the world to produce enough food to feed everyone adequately; nevertheless, in spite of progress made over the last two decades, 870 million people still suffer from chronic hunger. Among children, it is estimated that 171 million under five years of age are chronically malnourished (stunted), almost 104 million are underweight, and about 55 million are acutely malnourished (wasted).

• Make agriculture more productive and sustainable

The world’s population is predicted to increase to 9 billion people by 2050. Some of the world’s highest rates of population growth are predicted to occur in areas that are highly dependent on the agriculture sector (crops. Livestock, forestry and fisheries) and have high rates of food insecurity. Growth in the agriculture sector is one of the most effective means of reducing poverty and achieving food security.

• Reduce rural poverty

Most of the world’s poor live in rural areas. Hunger and food insecurity above all are expressions of rural poverty. Reducing rural poverty, therefore, is central to FAO’s mission. Many living in rural areas have been lifted out of poverty in recent decades. In 1990, 54% of those living in rural areas in developing countries lived on less than $1.25 a day and were considered extremely poor. By 2010, this share had dropped to 35%. Rural poverty remains widespread especially in South Asia and Africa. These regions have also seen least progress in improving rural livelihoods.

• Ensure inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems

With increasing globalization, agriculture as an independent sector will cease to exist, becoming instead, just one part of an integrated value chain. The value chain exits both upstream and downstream, or from production through to processing and sales, in which the whole is now highly concentrated, integrated and globalized. This poses a huge challenge for smallholder farmers and agricultural producers in many developing countries where even the most economically valid smallholders can easily be excluded from important parts of the value chain.

• Protect livelihoods from disasters

Each year, millions of people who depend on the production, marketing and consumption of crops, livestock, fish, forests and other natural resources are confronted by disasters and crises. They can strike suddenly – like an earthquake or a violent coup d’état – or unfold slowly – like drought-flood cycles. They can occur as a single event, one can trigger another, or multiple events can converge and interact simultaneously with cascading and magnified effects. These emergencies threaten the production of, and access to, food at local, national and, at times, regional and global levels. (https://www.un.org/)

My request to one and all is to work together to end poverty and hunger- these are universal fundamental human rights. Let us become part of the solution as the problem is not going to go away by any other means.

Please take this discussion forward, share your feedback, circulate in your networks, make suggestions. The idea is to seek a chain of reactions to win for all!