821 Million People Hungry Across the Globe Even as we Mark World Food Day

821 million people across the world are said to be affected by chronic hunger according to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Since its creation 1945, the FAO has been working toward its goal of freeing humanity from hunger and malnutrition.

On October 16th of every year, the world celebrates World Food Day. FAO designated this day so as to create awareness on how governments and individuals can join hands and help end hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity across the world.

Statistics show that most of the world’s hungry are concentrated in Africa and Southeast Asia. It is not surprising that the same countries are the most affected by landgrabs in the last decade. Africa alone concluded 422 deals with a total area spanning 10M hectares.

The United Nation (UN) has set a goal of achieving zero hunger worldwide by 2030, and on World Food Day FAO asks governments, farmers, organizations and individuals to get involved in working toward a world where everyone has reliable access to enough nutritious food.

Food Aid Foundation reported that Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest prevalence of hunger compared to the rest of the world where one person in every four is undernourished.

Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45 percent) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year and one out of six children in developing countries is underweight. One in four of the world’s children are stunted and in developing countries, the proportion can rise to one in three.

According to Food Aid Foundation, if women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.

66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone and WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.

Poverty has been termed as the main cause of hunger in Africa and the rest of the world. Individuals living in poverty often cannot afford food of sufficient quality or quantity to live a healthy life. Conflict and violence too can have direct and indirect impacts on all levels of the food system, leading to food insecurity and hunger. Conflict often puts constraints on employment and income opportunities, which affects an individual’s ability to acquire food. 

In Kenya, the people most vulnerable to food insecurity live in urban informal settlements and in the arid and semi-arid regions that make up 80 percent of the country’s land area.

Early this year, the Kenya Red Cross Society disclosed that at least 3.4 million Kenyans were facing starvation, the most at risk counties being Isiolo, Kilifi, Turkana, Wajir and Tana River. Droughts and unpredictable rain patterns exacerbate the situation, and more than one third of the country’s overall population lives below the poverty line.

Chronic hunger and food crises are preventable. Governments, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America where majority of the populations are rural and whose livelihoods and lives are tied to land, and where hunger and poverty are concentrated, should stop subscribing to the destructive and corporatized “development” strategies prescribed by the champions of the neoliberal global market.

Instead, global and national policy makers should heed the peoples’ legitimate demand for the protection and promotion of their access to and control over their land and resources; of their food sovereignty; and of their right to genuine development.