Archive for category: Food & Hunger

Information and stories on food.

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The Lasting Effects of El Nino

effects of el nino
The 2015-2016 El Nino climate pattern was one of the most extreme occurrences in years, affecting almost 60 million people, more than half of whom live in Africa. The effects of El Nino created extreme weather changes, ranging from severe drought to severe flooding. These changes posed drastic problems for the population. Drought caused food insecurity and poverty due to crop failure, and flooding created problems with sanitation and increased the spread of water-borne and communicable diseases. Furthermore, flooding threatened infrastructure and housing. The damage also restricted access to healthcare facilities, preventing victims from receiving the help they need.

The Effects of El Nino on Africa

In Southern Africa, El Nino-related droughts had led to massive crop failure. South Africa had a 25 percent drop in maize and a 23 percent drop in grain production. Maize prices were the highest they had ever been following the drop. The drought aggravated the existing food insecurity, with 14 million people already hungry and as crop failure continued, the number of people at risk of hunger increased.

Most El Nino effects are related to soil dryness or reduced rainfall, but in 2016, this occurrence resulted in a massive drought. In Cambodia, 2.5 million people were left without access to clean water. People had to travel long distances in search of clean and drinkable water after the wells and ponds had dried up. In South Africa, parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia, these effects of El Nino are still posing problems. In past years, most food production decreases have corresponded to El Nino, regardless of its magnitude.

The Effects of El Nino on South-East Asia

South-East Asia faced droughts and below-average rainfall as well. Thailand had faced its most severe drought in 20 years during the 2015-2016 El Nino. Water levels in dams throughout the country fell below 10 percent, leading to Thailand pumping water from nearby rivers. The Mae Jok Luang Reservoir, for example, typically served 11 sectors and can now, as a result of El Nino, can only serve one.

The droughts hit farmers hard, causing mass crop failure. Rice production and exports especially had gone down in Thailand. Consequently, many farmers found themselves in debt and unable to pay back loans. To deal with financial stress, many Filipino farmers started sending their children into town to work instead of going to school. Indigenous farmers turned to odd jobs as well, giving up on trying to farm in the drought.

The Effects of El Nino on Latin America

Effects of El Nino on Latin America often vary, and in 2016, there were droughts in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Central America as well as floods in Argentina and parts of Peru and Chile. Areas like Brazil had an increase in wildfires and tropical storms as a result of El Nino. Similar to South-East Asia, farming and fishing industries faced decreased production and exports during El Nino.

This was not the first time that El Nino has harmed the health and population of South American fisheries. The 1972 El Nino played a major role in the collapse of the Peruvian fishery, the largest fishery in the world at the time. With less fish, the population of seabirds also decreased, which damaged the seabird-dependent fertilizer industry. The impact on agricultural production led to higher food prices and lower food availability.

As a result of El Nino, 2.3 million people in Central America needed food assistance in 2015-16. The weather conditions also posed a great threat to civilians. Peru declared a state of emergency in 14 provinces where the lives of two million people had been at risk of mudslides and flooding. In October 2015, 500 people in Guatemala City died because of widespread mudslides.

Aid for Countries Affected by El Nino

Fortunately, there are organizations working to combat the effects of El Nino. Care, a nongovernmental organization, for example, has distributed food and emergency supplies to drought-ridden countries. In Cambodia, Care distributed water tanks and filters to the most affected areas. They had continued aid well into 2017.

While the work of organizations like Care is valuable, long-term plans to combat general climate change is necessary for countries to prepare for future climate change events. The results and effects of global warming and weather changes can be felt throughout the whole world, and the countries that suffer the most are usually less developed ones that do not have the right tools to combat this issue. People need to start taking climate issues seriously before it becomes too late to recover from these effects.

– Massarath Fatima

Photo: Flickr

Seed Banks’ Importance for the World

Seed Banks Can Help Impoverished Areas
The way that humans have evolved and adapted to changing climates have all been surrounding our food. Today, although it may seem that there is an abundance of food, in reality, it is scarce. In our world, 812 million people face hunger and malnutrition every day for countless reasons.

Working to fight world hunger and continue to adapt to a changing environment are top priorities to ensure that the human species continue to thrive. Through agricultural education, environmental conservation and the efforts of seed banks we can alleviate the issue of world hunger.

Definition of Seed Banks

Before getting into how seed banks can help impoverished areas, their definition needs to be established. A seed bank is essentially a gene bank for seeds. They are created in order to prepare for natural disaster and climate changes. By taking seeds from all different plant variations these banks aim to preserve the biodiversity that the world currently has. There are currently more than 1,000 seed banks worldwide established, ranging from the Doomsday Vault that is capable of withstanding being bombed to the small craft container.

The Importance of Seed Banks

Seed banks are mainly a preventative measure in the case that something goes horribly wrong. They are created for the chance of natural disasters, nuclear fallouts and outbreaks of disease. The industrialization of agriculture has made our crops less genetically diverse, and therefore less able to adapt to their surroundings. Seed banks preserve the genetic diversity of the plants in the world. This means that plants designed for different climates will not go extinct as the world’s ecosystem changes.

Location of Seed Banks

Seed banks are located everywhere. In the United States, there are 20 registered seed banks alone. These seed banks are also essentially ensured since there are backup collections of all seeds at the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado. Worldwide, there are more than 1,000 seed banks in place. The largest seed bank is Svalbard International Seed Vault. It is nicknamed the Doomsday Vault. It’s located on the side of a mountain in Norway. It is able to survive bombings, earthquakes and other disasters. It holds 825,000 seed varieties currently, and, even if the power goes out, the vault has the ability to store them for up to 25 years. Seed banks come in all shapes and sizes though. There are many large seed banks on each continent, but individual states and communities also have created smaller seed banks.

Everyone Can Participate

Everybody can create its own seed bank. It is as simple as taking the seeds from the produce and freezing them in a little container for later use. People can also take seeds and donate them to help fight world hunger and feed families across the globe. Organizations like Seeds to the World, Seeds of Peace and Seed Global Health all accept donations of seeds from the produce people eat every day as well as prepackaged seeds. There are also many nongovernmental organizations that support the production of community seed banks worldwide, including the Local Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI-BIRD). This organization supports the efforts of local farmers in impoverished areas to overcome the lack of agricultural diversity.

With the rise of genetically modified plants and climate changes people all across the globe face issues related to agriculture and food production. Seed banks can aid areas that are most affected by hunger by ensuring the conservation of local crops that are already adapted to the region and reviving the use of specific plants to provide agricultural stability.

– Emily Triolet

Photo: Flickr

Help for Diabetics in Uganda

Diabetics in Uganda
Living with Type 1 diabetes is hard. Anyone who lives with it knows that managing this condition requires checking one’s blood sugar multiple times a day, injecting just the right amount of insulin at mealtimes, eating and exercising when appropriate to keep the blood sugar number manageable and keeping plenty of emergency supplies on hand when things inevitably go wrong. However, diabetes is much harder for people living in Uganda, as life-saving supplies in this African nation are expensive and hard to come by. Fortunately, Myabetic, a small retail company helps diabetics in Uganda to earn money and afford these incredibly important supplies.

Diabetes in Uganda

Diabetes is poorly understood in Uganda and is often misdiagnosed as yellow fever, malaria, or cerebral meningitis. Those who are diagnosed correctly are often forbidden from going to school or even work because communities are often scared of their condition. They usually go to clinics once a month to have their blood sugar tested and receive their insulin supplies. However, many people do not give themselves enough insulin because they don’t know their own blood sugar number most of the time, and that is when the real trouble begins.

In Uganda, to be told that one has Type 1 diabetes is to be told that one will live a hard, painful life that will slowly lead to an equally painful death. Most diabetics in Uganda cannot afford the insulin and blood sugar supplies that they need to live. Changing Diabetes in Children used to give diabetic children these supplies for free, but the program was shut down in 2017. Insulin for Life also works to gives supplies to Ugandans who need it. But a shortage remains. To make things even worse the fact remains that without insulin, an individual with Type 1 diabetes will live a week or two at most.

Diabetic Neuropathy

With too little insulin, blood sugar numbers will run high, leading to a host of complications, including diabetic neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage caused by having consistently high blood sugar numbers. This is all too common among diabetics in Uganda. There are four types of diabetic neuropathy: peripheral, autonomic, proximal and focal. Peripheral neuropathy causes tingling, numbness, or pain in the feet, legs and occasionally arms. Autonomic neuropathy causes digestive problems- from heartburn to vomiting, dizziness, low blood pressure, faster heartbeat, genital problems in both sexes, either increased or decreased urination and/or bloating. Proximal neuropathy causes weakness in the legs and pain in the thighs, hips, or rear. Focal neuropathy causes muscle weakness, muscle pains, eye pains, double vision, facial paralysis, chest or belly pain and/or severe pain in one specific area. All of these forms of diabetic neuropathy ravage diabetics in Uganda, causing their bodies to slowly shut down due to chronically high blood sugar numbers.

About Myabetic

Myabetic is a retail company founded by Kyrra Richards. When she was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 24, she was embarrassed. She hid her condition from everyone by not checking her blood sugar or doing insulin in public, which threatened her life. Part of the problem was her standard black supply case, which looked ugly and made her fear stigma even more. She founded Myabetic to sell aesthetically pleasing cases and other devices in which to carry diabetes supplies.

Although the company’s main goal is to make diabetics feel better about themselves by giving them prettier carrying cases, they sell other diabetes paraphernalia as well. Among these items are bracelets handcrafted by diabetic artists in Uganda. The bracelets come in red, blue, yellow, and green and they cost $15 each. These profits go directly back to the artists, allowing them to buy the supplies they need to survive.

Life with diabetes is hard. Life with diabetes in Uganda is even worse. Those who do not die are shunned, given barely enough supplies to survive and are left to die. Fortunately, Myabetic helps diabetics in Uganda to afford supplies by selling the bracelets that diabetic Ugandans make. The bracelets may be inexpensive by American standards, but every penny counts when someone needs diabetes supplies to live. Thanks to Myabetic, these Ugandan artists have a new chance to hope for a better life.

– Cassie Parvaz
Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Mogadishu

Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Mogadishu
Mogadishu is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, withstanding famine, drought, war and terrorist occupations to earn this title. The country is also a budding tech hub, home to coffee shops, new colleges and even a TedX conference. Underneath these contrasting descriptions of Somalia’s capital city lie two issues that continue the cycle of poverty for the majority of residents: famine and terrorism. The root causes of many of the following 10 facts about poverty in Mogadishu can be traced back to these two underlying issues.

10 Facts About Poverty in Mogadishu

  1. The issue of poverty in Mogadishu is being worsened by famine in Somalia’s countryside. More than 500,000 Somalis have been heading toward Mogadishu in search of food, water and shelter, and around 100,000 have reached the borders of Mogadishu. They are desperately in need of food assistance.
  2. Camps have been set up around Mogadishu to deal with the influx of famine refugees; however, they have been described as a “no man’s land.” Leftover members of the Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab have attacked international humanitarian workers trying to provide basic services to those living in the camps. For example, a convoy from the World Food Programme was hit by a roadside bomb on April 16, 2017.
  3. This is not the first time a famine has affected the quality of life and poverty rates in Mogadishu. In 2011, a deadly famine raged the Horn of Africa, with Somalia unable to escape its effects. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people moved to Mogadishu to escape the famine’s effects and few have plans to return home. Even though the economy is said to be rapidly growing, most who fled to the city live in settlements and subsist on odd jobs to meet their basic needs. There are concerns that the huge number of young, unemployed people in camps may provide the opportunity for extremism to take hold.
  4. The unemployment rate in Mogadishu in 2016 was 66 percent with 74 percent being women between the ages of 14 to 29. This high unemployment rate, paired with large population growth and the constant threat of violence, has earned Mogadishu the title of the “world’s most fragile city.”
  5. Organizations like the World Food Programme (WFP) work to support some of the most impoverished parts of the population. It reopened its office in Mogadishu in 2015 for the first time in 20 years. Through programs ranging from emergency relief to rehabilitation, the organization helped approximately 4.6 million people in the country in 2020. The WFP is also working with the European Union’s humanitarian aid and civil protection department (ECHO) to provide financial assistance to families in need.
  6. There is concern over disease outbreaks, such as cholera, migrating from the countryside to Mogadishu along with those escaping the famine. In 2017, a severe drought led to an outbreak, with 1,100 deaths among a reported 78,000 cases. The drought conditions forced Somalians to drink contaminated water sources, exacerbating the already prevalent sanitation concerns.
  7. Around 5,000 boys live on the streets of Mogadishu. This group of boys is part of a number of children who have been left in the city to fend for themselves. One boy who was interviewed said his family lost everything in the 2011 famine and as a consequence, he was left because they could no longer provide for him.
  8. The terrorist group Al-Shabaab, Somalia’s Al-Qaeda franchise, occupied the capital for almost a quarter of a century. To this day, they continue to have control over two neighborhoods of the city where it is impossible for police and government forces to enter. The group often attacks the international airport.
  9. Despite progress being made, terror attacks continue to disrupt the lives of millions. In 2020, Somalia reported 239 terror attacks. Though this was down 16 percent from the previous year, terrorism remains a prominent issue in the country. The city of Mogadishu is a hub for many of these terror attacks.
  10. Poverty and climate change are intimately connected in Mogadishu. In 2018, six people died due to some of the heaviest rainfalls the country has seen in over three decades, with more than 750,000 having been affected. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq underscored the importance of getting to the root of the consequences climate change has had on poverty

Looking Towards Mogadishu’s Future

While these 10 facts about poverty in Mogadishu suggest a bleak future, that is not entirely the case. Some experts believe that the rapid growth of Mogadishu will actually spur economic transformation as long as it is accompanied by international aid and careful management. Michael Keating, the U.N. special representative in Somalia, argues that “The massive shift into urban areas can be an opportunity. It is the way of the future, it is what needs to be done to build a different economy, a different country. But that needs huge investment.” More support needs to be given to reduce the suffering of the Somalian population.

– Georgie Giannopoulos
Photo: Flickr

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Global Food Insecurity Has a Common Solution

Crop fields Nigeria
Food insecurity is outlawed by international rule of law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948, as a minimum standard of treatment and quality of life for all people in all nations. Article 25, section 1 of the declaration states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food.”

Causes of Food Insecurity

Often times, countries that are a part of the U.N. fall short on this promise to provide adequate nutritious food to everyone, including the United States of America. Malnutrition and food insecurity can be attributed to many causes worldwide, from political turmoil, environmental struggles and calamities, lack of financial resources and lack of infrastructure to distribute food equally within a country.

It is widely known that the poorest nations often lack the means or the will to sufficiently supply food to the people and their most vulnerable population, ethnic minority groups, women, and children often suffer the most.

In 2006, the Center for Disease Control reported that widespread media attention in 2005 brought global awareness to a food crisis in the West African country of Niger. According to the report, with a population of 11.5 million in 2002, 2.5 million people living in farming or grazing areas in Niger were vulnerable to food insecurity.

Food Supply Chains

In the United States, conventional food supply chains are used in the mass distribution of food. This method starts with produced raw goods. These products are transferred to distribution centers that may offload goods to wholesalers or sell them directly to food retailers, where these goods are finally purchased by consumers at grocery stores and markets. Food may travel long distances throughout this process, to be consumed by people who may have purchased comparable foods grown closer to home.

In her article entitled Food Distribution in America, Monica Johnson writes, “With each step added between the farm and the consumer, money is taken away from the farmer. Typically, farmers are paid 20 cents on the dollar. So even if the small-scale or medium sized farmer is able to work with big food distributors, they are typically not paid enough to survive.”

Hunts Food Distribution Center is one of the largest food distributors in the United States with over $2 billion in annual sales. According to the New York Economic Development Commission, it sits on 329 acres of land in the Bronx, New York and supplies over 50 percent of food consumed by people in the area, and also supplies food to about 20 percent of people in the region. Still, the Food Bank of New York City reported a meal gap of 242 million in 2014 and food insecurity of 22.3 percent, with 399,000 of people affected being children.

Solution to the Problem

About 13 years after the Niger food crisis the country is still one of the poorest in the world. The World Food Program (WFP), headquartered in Rome, Italy, continues to focus on fixing the problem of food insecurity in countries like Niger. Through helping those like Nigeriens build sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems for crop cultivation, the WFP hopes to lessen the high levels of food insecurity and issues related to it, such as malnutrition and high mortality rates among children under the age of 5.

Assisting locals to manage sustainable local food resources through soil conservation, water harvesting, rehabilitating irrigation systems and reducing the loss of biodiversity among other efforts, the organization focuses on local measures to solve food insecurity issues.

The same is happening in the United States. The country plans to upgrade agricultural facilities and operations, a plan that includes working with other food distributors at the state level to increase integration with upstate and regional food distributors, supporting local farms, and providing growth opportunities for emerging regional food distribution models.

Food insecurity is a big problem in developing, but in developed countries as well. Countries need to make sure to promote local agriculture development in order to achieve food production that will suffice each country needs.

– Matrinna Woods

Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts About Hunger in Eritrea

Top 10 Facts About Hunger in Eritrea
Eritrea is located at the Horn of Africa in the Sahel Desert that is dominated by arid and semi-arid climatic conditions. The country is, therefore, vulnerable to adverse effects of climate variability, recurring droughts and environmental degradation. The World Bank estimates that 69 percent of Eritrea’s population lives below the poverty line. The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with 80 percent of the population depending on farming and pastoralism.

Eritrea has no free press and political repression of the opposition is rampant. After a severe drought in the Horn of Africa in 2015, president of the country, Isaias Afwerki, polemicized that the country had magically evaded the drought, denying a food crisis. A 2016 U.N. report documents that the president rejected U.N. food aid during the 2015 drought.

The proceeding 10 facts about hunger in Eritrea provide a snapshot of the political climate in the country that ousted humanitarian aid agencies over the last decade, while hunger persisted. The facts also highlight advances in sustainable agriculture and projects that have increased food security.

Top 10 Facts About Hunger in Eritrea

  1. Since gaining independence in 1993, Eritrea has had tense relations with humanitarian agencies. In July 2005, the country asked the USAID to terminate its operations and leave the country. It continued expelling other international organizations from working within the country in 2006.
  2. Beginning in 2000, Mercy Corps carried out more than $40 million worth of assistance that alleviated hunger until they closed their operations at the request of the Government of Eritrea in June 2006.
  3. According to the BBC report in 2011, emaciated Eritreans were crossing the heavily militarised border at the rate of almost 900 people a month, despite official denial of food crisis by President Afwerki.
  4. In 2013, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), over 60 percent of the Eritrean population was reported to be undernourished in the period between 2011 and 2013.
  5. Eritrea currently meets only a third of its estimated food and the other two-third needs are being met by international food aid programs.
  6. Data from the Nutrition Sentinel Site Surveillance system indicate an increase in malnutrition rates since 2015 in four out of six regions of the country, and projections estimate that 23,000 children under the age of 5 will need treatment for severe acute malnutrition in 2018.
  7. In May 2018, the Government of Eritrea donated 40,000 tons of food to South Sudan. The country has already pledged 50,000 tons of food aid for the people of South Sudan in 2017.
  8. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aimed to increase collaboration with Eritrea to promote sustainability and food security. There has been a success with projects that aim to increase sustainable agriculture in Eritrea, specifically in the small village of Keih-Kor. With the help of the UNDP, the village was able to regain the use of 45 hectares of farmland.
  9. In the Central Region, UNDP helped build three micro-dams in the Gala-Hefhi sub-region. Over 1,200 villagers benefitted from the dam constructed in Lamza Village, with improved food security and stronger productivity.
  10. In 2018, UNICEF treated 15,000 children under the age of 5 that had severe acute malnutrition and 40,000 children under the age of 5 with minor acute malnutrition, provided 477,000 children aged 6 to 59 months with vitamin A supplementation and 70,000 children aged 6 to 59 months. Pregnant and lactating women also benefited from supplementary feeding.

Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Five years later, the war between the two countries broke out and lasted from May 1998 to June 2000. The conflict saw hundreds of millions of dollars diverted from development aid to arms procurement.

In July 2018, Eritrea signed a historic peace agreement with Ethiopia. Four months following these good measures of social reunification in the Horn of Africa, the United Nations Security Council unanimously lifted international sanctions against Eritrea that have been imposed continuously since 2009. The measures were based on concerns that the Eritrean government was funding and arming the Somali extremist group, Al-Shabaab.

The 10 facts about hunger in Eritrea provide hope that hunger may turn around in the Horn of Africa due to Eritrea’s reconciliation with its neighbors, as the reconciliation could also mean a more open attitude towards humanitarian agencies. There is evidence that suggests that Eritrea could also be a friend in alleviating hunger in the future, across other nations in the Horn of Africa.

– Sasha Kramer
Photo: Flickr

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Food Crisis in Yemen

Food Crisis in Yemen
Located at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia, Yemen is home to 20 million people that are food insecure.

The Famine Early Warning System Network has determined that the country is in a crisis phase and that the most vulnerable families could enter into a catastrophe phase.

Recent war and conflicts have exaggerated the food crisis in Yemen and if nothing is done, the U.N. warns that it could become a famine.

Factors Affecting Food Crisis in Yemen

One factor that prevents access to food in the country is the temporary hold on operations at main ports that supply a large percentage of Yemen with food due to the conflict. The country imports around 90 percent of its food and with main ports shut down due to conflict, these vital goods cannot reach the people who need them.

However, some humanitarian aid comes through these ports and that aid is vital to preventing starvation and death for at-risk regions who rely on ports like Al Huddayah and Salif.

Another factor is the decrease in Yemen’s currency value- Yemeni rial (YER). As its value decreases prices for basic needs like food rise, leaving those without financial means to go hungry.

The Yemeni rial value dropped by half between July and October and food prices have increased steadily. This leaves already impoverished households unable to provide food for their families.

This financial situation poses even more of a danger than the inability to access ports because even if imports were being let into Yemen, many would be unable to afford them.

As a result of these issues, more than 2 million people have been displaced and 14 million are in desperate need of food.

Relief In Yemen

There are high rates of malnutrition among children due to the food crisis in Yemen. Around 3 million children under the age of 5, as well as nursing or pregnant women, are at risk of malnutrition. UNICEF has recently revised their humanitarian response plan regarding Yemen and raised its required funding from $378 million to $424 million.

The organization has treated 195,000 children with severe acute malnutrition since September 2018 and plans to reach a total of 276,000 children at the end of the year.

FAO and Mercy Corps

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has stated that 190 regions in Yemen are experiencing pre-famine conditions. FAO plans to focus their efforts on improving agriculture production to relieve the pressure of food insecurity in the country.

Their 2018-2020 plan of action for the country includes focusing on famine-risk regions by providing emergency relief and then teaching sustainable farming and improving planning for future famine events.

Mercy Corps is another group focused on combating the food crisis in Yemen. They focus on regions that have been severely overwhelmed by violence.

They have provided food vouchers to impoverished household and treat severely malnourished children. The organization not only focuses on providing food but also clean water, sanitation, disease prevention and helps sesame farmers improve their farming techniques.

Last year, they reached 3.7 million people with their assistance. Even though conflict sometimes disrupts their efforts, they are more than ever determined to help the people.

Yemen is one of the Middle East’s poorest countries and the citizens of the country desperately need assistance if they are going to survive this awful food crisis.

Focusing on access, financial relief and ending the conflict are vital keys to ending the food crisis in Yemen. Most of all, these people are suffering and need urgent action due to the dire instability of the situation.

– Olivia Halliburton

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Food Waste in Denmark

Fighting Food Waste in Denmark
One out of every eight people worldwide doesn’t have adequate access to food. This sobering statistic is even more upsetting when contrasted with the amount of food wasted each year that amounts to 1.3 billion tons. That is almost one-third of all food produced for humans. This amount is well beyond what would be necessary to feed every hungry person alive today.

Facts like these are why the U.N. is committed to fighting food waste. The 12th U.N. Sustainable Development Goal includes the target of cutting international food waste in half by 2030.

Of course, this goal can only be met through international cooperation. Thankfully, many countries around the world are taking this issue seriously. In recent years, Denmark has risen to become one of the world’s leaders in fighting food waste.

Small Movements, Big Impacts

Despite being one of the smaller nations in Europe and having a population smaller than London, Denmark has more projects aimed at reducing food waste than any other European nation. The country has achieved this by using a highly cooperative approach between the government, businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Several food banks and other nonprofits in Denmark get their supplies through donations from local supermarkets or restaurants. One supermarket in Copenhagen, Wefood, only sells food that would have otherwise been wasted. Typically, this is food that has reached its sell-by date or has not been used up at the end of restaurant business hours. Sometimes, this food consists of perfectly healthy fruits and vegetables that simply appear too misshapen and unattractive to reach market shelves.

Denmark’s government works to support these projects with a combination of funding and official awareness campaigns.

Stop Wasting Food

One of the largest and most impactful waste-fighting organizations in Denmark is Stop Spild Af Mad, known in English as Stop Wasting Food. This nonprofit organization was founded in 2008 and has been working toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal number 12 ever since.

Stop Wasting Food has worked directly with the Danish government and has ongoing partnerships with both E.U. and U.N. organizations. It also harnesses nationwide media attention to raise public awareness of food waste and lobbies supermarkets to implement waste-reducing policies in their stores.

As young as Stop Wasting Food is, it has been instrumental in helping Denmark achieve impressive results. Between the efforts of the government, businesses and willing Danish citizens, Denmark has been able to cut its food waste by a quarter since 2010 alone.

Global Applications

Abovementioned one-quarter mark is significant. If the entire world could achieve the same reduction of food waste, we could feed nearly 95 percent of all food-deprived people in the world without needing to produce any additional food.

The importance of fighting food waste will only become more obvious as we approach the 2030 date set by the Sustainable Development Goals. By 2050, the global population could spike up to nine billion and require significant additional resources for our food production to keep up. While reducing waste may not completely negate this need, it could give us the means to sustainably keep hundreds of millions fed.

Whatever the case, Denmark is a shining example for the rest of the world, and particularly for developed countries, to look up to. Denmark’s policies have both provided cheap sources of food for its own poorer citizens and a roadmap for how government and private cooperation can achieve significant change in only a few years.

Joshua Henreckson

Photo: Flickr

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Empty Stomachs to Hopeful Hearts: 8 Facts About Hunger in the US

Hunger in the U.S.
When one thinks of global hunger, the United States does not immediately come to mind as a country suffering from food insecurity. Yet, this does not mean that there are no hungry people in America, or that there are not demographic and geographic pockets of people experiencing hunger. Here are eight facts about hunger in the U.S.

Factors Related to Demographic and Geographic Disparities

  1. Demographics Affected by Hunger: Feeding America reports that the impact of hunger disproportionately affects different demographics. As is common in less developed countries, higher rates of hunger are experienced by children, seniors, the disabled, communities of color and rural communities.
  2. The Relationship Between Poverty and Hunger: Poverty is an underlying cause of hunger in all categories. Low family income, fixed income, lack of affordable housing so that food loses out to rent, under employment and unemployment all contribute to poverty.
  3. Child Hunger: Child hunger can be more prevalent for children of single parents, and for children of black, Latino and Native American families. Feeding America reported 20% of children being unsure as to where they would get their next meal in 2023—nearly 14 million children.
  4. Hunger Among Seniors: Seniors are more likely to live on fixed (and often inadequate) incomes, to have chronic health problems, to lack access to transportation and to be socially isolated. Feeding America reported 7 million older adults as food insecure in 2022, possibly rising to 9 million by 2050.
  5. Hunger Among the Vulnerable: Many active military and veterans, especially veterans who are older, disabled and/or in poor health are challenged to find a steady income post military, while partners of active military members find it difficult to find work because of frequent moves or living on base. Many bases are not near grocery stores. In addition, there are those veterans who have physical and mental issues related to military service. Feeding America reported food insecurity in 2020 for 24% of active-duty service members.
  6. People of Color: Some of the challenges often faced by people of color are cultural barriers and immigration policies and living in “food deserts”—areas without grocery stores or sources of fresh, healthy foods. In 2023, 25% of black people (9 million) and 25% of Latinos (nearly 14 million) were food insecure. In 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that food insecurity was significantly greater among American Indian/Alaska Native households than for all U.S. households, or approximately 30% of households compared to 15%.
  7. Rural Americans: Issues for rural Americans include distance from stores and food pantries combined with lack of transportation, low wages and underemployment. Racism and long-term inequalities have resulted in rural black people as 2.5 more likely to experience hunger, with rural Native Americans having some of the highest rates of hunger in the country.
  8. Food Sovereignty for Native Americans: Uniquely for Native Americans is the additional issue of native food sovereignty, the “right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” The significance of food sovereignty led to the creation in 2005 of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, a national network “dedicated to restoring food systems that support tribal self-determination and community wellness.

Assistance Programs for Food Insecure Americans

In 2023, the United States Department of Agriculture reported that 13.5% of U.S. households (18 million households) were food insecure, meaning that at some time during the year there were insufficient resources to provide enough food for all members of the family. This was an increase over the previous the years. To address this need are many programs, both government programs and programs that nonprofit organizations offer.

Government Food Programs

The first Food Stamp Program came into being in 1939, serving around 20 million people over the course of its existence until spring 1943. There were various similar programs until 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Food Stamp Act, making the program permanent. Over the years, there have been many changes in the program, which has been reborn as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is the largest anti-hunger program in America, currently helping approximately 42 million people.

In 2025, the USDA reported that about 25% of Americans participated in at least one of its food and nutrition assistance programs at some point during a given year.

Other government assistance includes programs for:

  • Older adults, e.g., Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program; Commodity Supplemental Food Program providing monthly food boxes to people aged 60 and older
  • Emergencies, e.g., Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
  • Women, Infants and Children, WIC
  • School children, e.g., National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Summer Food Service Program
  • Native Americans, e.g., Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservation

Nonprofit Programs

Two prominent nonprofit food assistance programs in the U.S. are:

  • Meals on Wheels America: Meals on Wheels American has been in existence for 50 years and is a network of more than 5,000 independent community-based providers that delivers meals to more than two million seniors annually. They report “millions more” waiting to be included.
  • No Kid Hungry: Share Our Strength launched No Kid Hungry in 2010 and is a campaign addressing problems of poverty and hunger within the U.S. as well as globally. Its focus is raising money and awareness, but it also works with programs on the ground, having granted more than $600 million to these programs.  

Addressing Hunger in the U.S.

There are many factors that contribute to hunger in the U.S. among individuals, families and communities. Some of these factors have to be addressed at the societal level such as unemployment, housing, transportation and racism. At the individual level, needs can be met simply by getting food to hungry people, as many government programs and charitable organization do.

– Staff Reports

Photo: Flickr

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Uncovering 10 Facts About Hunger in Cuba

Top Ten Facts About Hunger in Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is home to nearly 11.5 million people and has lasted through a communist regime for more than 50 years. U.S. sanctions were designed to dislodge the leader, Fidel Castro, and his regime; surprisingly, the island of Cuba has survived long after the collapse of its biggest supporter, the Soviet Union.

During the last 50 years, the government of Cuba has worked to eliminate poverty and hunger; however, many analysts argue that the economic system envisioned by Fidel Castro has not lived up to its plans. The Revolution was centered around the idea of eliminating a class structure, yet, the country has been left poor.

Nevertheless, the government of Cuba has continued its support of Castro’s ideology and is now working to eradicate issues such as hunger. To learn more about the country’s shortcomings and successes, here are the top 10 facts about hunger in Cuba.

Facts About Hunger in Cuba

  1. Social protection programs implemented within the last 50 years have greatly helped Cuba reduce hunger. The government of Cuba provides monthly food baskets, mother-and-child health care and school feeding programs. These programs are reliant on food imports and are dependent on the national budget.
  2. Guided by the government’s commitment to leave no Cuban unprotected, the leadership of Cuba reformed its economic model. This process began in 2011 and had the goals to reduce costs, increase the viability of social programs and boost overall efficiency. Food scarcity was recognized as one of the nation’s top priorities.
  3. In 2015, about 3.5 million people visited Cuba, causing a surge in the demand for food. Food scarcity was in part due to the U.S. embargo, as well as poor planning by the Cuban government. The foods that many families relied on went instead to restaurants that catered to the increase in tourism. The prices of essential food have risen exuberantly, leaving the average Cuban at a big loss.
  4. The typical Cuban family has poor nutrition as there is often very little food diversity, and Cubans traditionally eat very few vegetables. In 2011, the government began its attempts to implement its National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Anemia. Children under the age of five are specifically targeted in this effort; however, by the end of 2015, it was reported that 31.6 percent of children aged two, and as many as 39.6 percent of children six months or younger, suffer from anemia.
  5. There are still periods of food shortage in Cuba. Maria Julia, a single mother from Santiago de Cuba, described the food shortages that occurred in December 2014 and January 2015. She and countless other Cuban families had no access to chicken — the main protein in Cuban cuisine. Schools could not provide lunch or snacks for the children during these periods, further challenging struggling parents.
  6. The Cuban government covers half of an individual’s nutritional needs at a very low cost. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recently honored Cuba for its low levels of malnutrition and hunger. Although unable to provide an average Cuban with all their nutritional needs, the government has managed to provide supplements and extra rationed items for the elderly, children and those suffering from chronic illnesses.
  7. Food scarcity has caused families to struggle to create main meals; often by the end of the month, most Cuban families have usually already eaten their ration. This results in difficulty finding sustainable meals, and families tend to rely on social networks to acquire their essential food items.
  8. In dealing with food scarcity, Cubans had to adapt to different food than their traditional preferences. Many refuse to accept available food as viable, yet, they continue to consume the food out of necessity. The food available through the government does not reach cultural standards, so the Cuban people’s disdain is a sort of symbolic rejection.
  9. Nitza Villapol, one of the main Cuban food authorities, has encouraged the change in the traditional Cuban diet through cookbooks aimed at the average Cuban. The cookbooks and state-approved television shows teach Cubans to cook without staple foods. Food scarcity made traditional ingredients like pork, milk, butter and bread extremely difficult to attain.
  10. After the crash of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba’s sugar economy plummeted for nearly a decade. The government ordered the shutdown of 71 out of 156 sugar refineries in Cuba. Farming land that was once used for sugar is now used to supplement the monthly rations given by the state. Farmers generate cooperatives so that locals can survive off state-sponsored food in conjunction with local farming.

Independence and Eliminating Hunger

Currently, the small island of Cuba imports 60-80 percent of its food. State officials are encouraging the continuation of cooperative farming to avoid dependency on other nations. Additionally, urban farming started in the 1990s and is regarded by the government as an acceptable mean to supplement the monthly rations.

The island of Cuba is working very hard to eliminate hunger. These top ten facts about hunger in Cuba demonstrate both the areas in which the goals of the regime have fallen short, as well as the successes of Castro’s vision.

– Stefanie Babb
Photo: Unsplash