2011 Saw Challenges of Hunger and Poverty

December 27, 2011

The Worldwatch Institute said in 2011 far too many people were living with less than they needed. It says, for example, nearly one billion people were hungry and just as many were illiterate.

Worldwatch Institute’s Danielle Nierenberg said while a billion people went to bed hungry each night, it wasn’t because of a lack of available food.

“We produce more than enough food in the world to not only feed the 7 billion people who are on earth today, but 9 to 11 billion people. By 2050, we expect the population to be about 9 and a half billion people and we currently produce enough food to feed all of those people. But the question is really one of how do we get food to the people who need it the most. Poverty really impedes the progress of allowing people to eat well. Not just getting enough staple crops, but being able to buy fruits and vegetables and the things that will really nourish them,” she said.

Wasted

The director of the Nourishing the Planet Project said besides poverty and a lack of access to food, much food is simply lost. Worldwatch estimates 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year.

Danielle Nierenberg

“Twenty to fifty percent of the global food harvest is wasted before it can ever reach people’s stomachs. And this is really a moral problem when you consider all of the people who are hungry in the world. The good news about that 20 to 50 percent of global food waste number is that it’s easy to prevent food waste. We can do it in our homes. Consumers can do a lot to prevent food waste by planning meals better, by not buying too much food. In the developing world there are storage systems that are beginning to be put in place that help farmers protect their food from crop diseases or pests or molds and fungus,” she said.