Day 68: Feed the hungry

Yesterday's post was about the generosity of a single man and his family, cooking and providing meals to those in a down-and-out position.  Today I've chosen to look a little further at hunger, in a global sense, to see what is being done for the hungry around the world.

I tried to pull up some statistics, that might help in comprehending this issue a bit more in depth.  A couple of questions came to mind as I was thinking about this: 1) Is there enough food to feed the world's population?  2) If there is, what is impacting it from reaching those who need it?

1) Is there enough food to feed the world's population?
"The world produces enough food to feed everyone (6.7 billion people). World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9)." Worldhunger.org 

2)  If there is, what is impacting if from reaching those who need it?  The answer to this question was found at the World Food Programme website.  I have only listed the main causes, but clearly it is a complex problem.  
- Nature - weather and climate change 
- War - conflict, displacement of millions
-Poverty Trap - the poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty
-Agricultural infrastructure - high transportation costs, lack of storage facilities, and unreliable water sources
-Over-exploitation of environment - poor farming practices, deforestation, over-cropping and over-grazing

Is there good news here?  There is.  The hungry haven't gone unnoticed.  The United Nations has as one of their Millennium Development Goals to halve the number of people who are hungry by the year 2015.  It is a continual challenge, especially with the recent global economic crisis, but the goal is still present.  People and organizations are still working to get to food into the hands of those who are hungry.  Here is a blog article, written by Martin Kabaluapa.  "He works with the World Food Programme's Purchase for Progress project to help farmers in Kenya grow their own food to feed their own people.  In this blog post, he explains how the project works - and why it's so successful."

As the Purchase for Progress (P4P) Coordinator in Kenya, I tour the country to see how the World Food Programme (WFP) can use its purchasing power to promote agricultural development and improve market access for small-scale farmers.  

At the heart of our efforts is a straightforward concept: supporting nations to grow their own food to feed their own people.  The opportunities are great.  Almost 80 percent of the nearly $1 billion of food WFP buys each year comes from developing countries.  In the past three years alone, we have purchased more than $500 million worth of food from East Africa, a place that is sadly better known for its droughts than its surpluses.  Can you imagine if a substantial amount of this money was going into the pockets of small-scale farmers working on an acre or so of land?

On a recent trip to Mwala, an agricultural district 60 miles from Kenya's capital Nairobi, I met with farmers, both men and women, to explain how P4P works.  The enthusiasm is palpable and now I need to figure out how to best support them to meet our international food standards while maintaining competitive prices.  

Here in Mwala, we scout out potential collection points that would keep the food safe and dry - and believe me, the solutions often require creative thinking.  A smaller, well-maintained building close to the farms would not be reachable by large trucks.  The proposed solution: use smaller vehicles to collect the food.  Another option is a strategically located hotel that is still in use.  The proposed solution: empty the furniture for the harvest season!

Once a storage solution is found, the real business of helping farmers get to a position of selling their food to bigger and better markets begins.  With government and NGO partners, we train them on everything from planting and harvesting techniques to marketing and negotiation skills.  This is invaluable as it allows them to produce and store the food and represent themselves professionally when dealing with buyers."  One.org/blog

There is hope, indeed, for the hungry.

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