Archive for category: Food & Hunger

Information and stories on food.

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Corn: A Cornerstone of Global Food Security

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A paper recently published in the Journal for the Society of Risk Analysis, brings attention to the important role corn plays in global food security. Corn’s many uses make it a central commodity and a great influence on prices and global food security. Corn can be found in: starch, oil, food sweeteners, alcohol, as well as livestock feed and biofuel that assists global food security.

Corn’s central role also means that a disruption in corn supply can create a global crisis. This is compounded by reliance on two major export markets: the United States and Argentina. Of the top five import countries, four of them rely on the United States to provide the vast majority of their corn.

Climate change, however, is a growing concern among corn growers world-wide. According to a study done at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom focusing on corn production in France, temperature levels are a significant variable in corn production. When temperatures exceed a certain level, corn yield suffers, according to the study. Already the average number of days over this threshold per year has risen. This is disturbing news as average temperatures are expected to continue to rise during the 21st century. As the study’s leader, Dr. Ed Hawkins of the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science, states “It’s a serious risk to food security.”

Scientists estimate corn production will need to increase by 12 percent per acre between 2016 and 2035 in order to maintain current production levels. In order to increase crop yields, additional technology advancements will be necessary.

The importance of global food security has led corn growers from leading export nations to form a collaborative group to address this shared issue as well as biotechnology, stewardship, and trade. This cooperative group formation, dubbed The International Maize Alliance (MAIZALL), is the first of its kind and is significant for the collaboration among trade competitors. The United States, Argentina, and Brazil, the three top corn export markets, are members.

MAIZALL will discuss biotechnology in regards to food security as well. Getting import markets to accept drought-resistant traits is an important component for global food security, stated National Corn Growers Association President, Pam Johnson. MAIZALL members will travel to China and South Korea in October to discuss biotechnology in those markets.

Incorporating technological innovation to boost yields and counteract climate change is important for protecting and increasing future corn yields. A significant drop in these yields will lead to increased food prices and shortages that will endanger global food security. With a world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, corn producers world-wide are on the alert.

– Callie D. Coleman

Sources: Farm Futures, Corn and Soybean Digest, Food Security

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The Solution to Food Security: Eat More Bugs?

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Insects have been eaten by humans for centuries. Little do most people know that pound for pound, insects pack more protein than regular beef or chicken. Today, one start up company plans to reclaim bugs as a source protein to improve food security and protect the environment.

Exo is a new company started by Brown University graduates Greg Sewitz and Gabi Lewis. Exo produces protein bars that are made with a very special ingredient: cricket flour. The crickets are slow roasted and milled into a fine powder. The cricket flour is then combined with organic ingredients such as raw cacao, dates, almond butter, and coconut. The result is a high protein, low sugar, nutritionally packed protein bar. The bar boasts a high content of omega 3 fatty acids, iron, and calcium. The bars are also gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and have no artificial preserves or processed ingredients.

Why eat crickets? Crickets are extremely nutritious. They are made up of a majority of protein by dry weight. They also contain all the essential amino acids. Compared to beef, 100 grams of cricket powder contains 69% protein while 100 grams of dried beef contains only 45% protein. Sirloin steak has even less at 29% per 100 grams. Cricket powder also contains nearly as much calcium as cow’s milk.

Cricket protein presents a solution to the global food and environmental crisis. Crickets need 12 times less feed than cattle and 4 times less than sheep. They require very little water and very little space. High densities of crickets also require significantly less space for storage and transportation, making this insect protein highly sustainable. Furthermore, harvesting insects such as crickets is far less environmentally destructive as raising traditional livestock. The average cow produces 132 pounds of methane that is released into the atmosphere. Crickets produce 80 times less.

By creating these protein bars, Exo hopes to convert the world’s food eating patterns into more sustainable ones. Despite the many benefits of consuming insects, most people are still hesitant to do so, especially in the United States. However in reality, 80% of the world already does so. Additionally, Exo has worked with expert chefs and conducted taste tests to produce a protein bar that is both wholesome and enjoyable.

Both Gabi and Greg of Exo hope to see their company expand to include a variety of insect based foods. Ultimately their goal is to “feed the world without destroying the planet.” By tapping into insects as a source of protein, Exo stands to make a real difference in the food industry.

– Grace Zhao

Sources: Forbes, Kickstarter
Photo: The World

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What Is Global Food Insecurity?

Global Food Insecurity
There really is no formula to defining global food insecurity. Still, many world health organizations use the term to point out deficiencies in global food security. To understand what something is, it sometimes helps to understand what it is not. This may just be the case with food insecurity. To understand food insecurity, that is, one must first define and understand food security and work backwards. If food security does not exist, then, by definition, you have food insecurity.

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” This definition hinges on three qualifications: namely food availability, food access, and food use. Lacking one of these elements of food security, a population faces food insecurity, which can and does arise in an endless permutation of manners.

 

Global Food Insecurity: Failing Food Security Criteria

 

To establish food security, say, in a developing nation, food must first be available on a consistent basis. Some will argue that there is currently enough food in the world to feed everyone in the world. Nonetheless, people go hungry due to inconsistency in their daily intake of food. For example, one may go days without a meal. In this situation, a cornucopia of food, arriving two weeks later, does nothing to alleviate that person’s current hunger. As such, food security depends on food availability.

Second, the nation’s population must have access to the right kinds of food to sustain a healthy diet. Not only must a person have food available, that is, it must be the right kind of food. For example, a human cannot survive on rice alone. We need all different kinds of food to live healthy lives. The definition of healthy diet here also includes accommodations to particular dietary needs, such as avoiding certain foods or increasing intake of others.

Finally, food security requires appropriate use of food based on adequate knowledge of basic nutrition and care. In order to maintain a healthy diet, one must know how to eat the food that is available to him or her and portion that food out in a way that best serves the needs of his or her body. When USAID drops bags of food over Africa, for example, it will be helpful to also teach those receiving the aid how to ration the food. Basic sanitation and access to water are included in appropriate use to complete the qualifications of food security.

If even one of these three elements or qualifications is not met, it is easy to see how even a full plate of food, three times a day, may not be enough to maintain a healthy diet. Food security requires that the food is enough to satisfy the short, mid, and long-term needs of the human body and that the person consuming the food does so in an appropriate manner to maintain him or herself. Global food insecurity, or deficient food security from a worldwide perspective, exists in a world where even one person goes hungry.

Though great strides have been made in alleviating global hunger, the current level of food insecurity is unacceptable. Even in the United States, 1 out of 10 households were food insecure, hence the importance of food provision and education programs, like, local food banks. To learn more about food (in)security in the U.S., you can visit this site.

– Herman Watson

Sources: U.S. Food Aid and Security, World Health Organization, World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization
Photo: Security and Sustainability Forum

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Rising Obesity Rates in Developing Countries

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As developing countries’ economies improve they are increasingly at risk of the obesity pandemic. As income levels rise and physical labor decreases, these populations become susceptible to the same unhealthy weight gain that has swept through the United States and Europe.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines “obese” as having a body mass index of thirty or above. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) states 500 million people worldwide qualify as obese, or 1 out of every 10 people.

Already obesity rates in Brazil and South Africa exceed OECD countries’ average. However, in order to slow these growing rates, developing nations must get ahead of the trend. The OECD report recommends these countries utilize media campaigns, subsidy programs, and taxes to promote healthier diets. However, these actions present a bill that developing nations are reluctant or unable to pay. The OECD states the agenda would be cost-effective down the road by preventing staggering health care expenses. Taxes on sugary and fatty foods have proven to slow obesity rates in developing countries.

Increased economic potential in developing countries opens them up to alternative food sources. These sources may include “westernized” diets of sugary and fatty foods. As rural populations become urbanized they are put at risk of developing health problems including rising obesity rates. While rural populations rely on traditional diets consisting of self-grown fruits, vegetables, and grains urban populations obtain their food from outside sources. These are often cheaper, processed foods.

In a study published in the Oxford International Journal of Epidemiology the authors, conducting studies in Gambia, state their belief that the remittance economy may affect diets in villages. With the increase in remittances (money sent home from family members working abroad) local villagers have increased access to imported food items, often high in fat and oils.

Under-nutrition in early life may predispose an individual to obesity later. Some research has shown that “nutritional stunting” or under-weight children may later be more susceptible to extreme weight gain. This susceptibility presents a targeted risk for developing countries.

A significant concern for developing countries are the health problems that are associated with obesity. Obese individuals often suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. However, health systems in developing nations are ill-equipped to deal with these diseases or even patient increases. In many of these nations the health care industry and health aid must still address malnutrition, malaria, TB, and HIV/AIDS.

– Callie D. Coleman

Sources: FAO, Oxford Journals, WHO, BBC, Huffington Post
Photo: ABC

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Alliance to End Hunger

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The Alliance to End Hunger operates on the belief that it takes the collaborative work of every part of society to effectively end hunger. It has grown to a network of 85 organizations from the private, public, educational, non-profit, and health sectors of society. Founded in 2004, the Alliance uses its diverse network of organizations to raise awareness and effect change in over 49 countries worldwide.

The Alliance to End Hunger focuses its resources on 4 key initiatives:
1.Foster Strategic Partnerships: Building relationships between the different member organizations of the Alliance helps expand its reach and improve information sharing.
2. Building Political Commitment: Encouraging political leaders to take a stand against hunger makes it a public issue and increases awareness and advocacy efforts.
3. Hunger Free Communities Initiative: This initiative brings the fight to end hunger to the community. By educating communities about hunger at the local level and helping them start programs to alleviate hunger each individual becomes involved in the battle.
4. The National Alliance Partnership Program: This program focuses on branches of the Alliance in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda and provides assistance to build infrastructure and make the fight against hunger more effective.

Recent examples of the work the Alliance to End Hunger does to raise awareness and battle hunger can be seen in Afghanistan and Mali. In Afghanistan, Nutrition & Education International, a member of the Alliance to End Hunger, has introduced the soybean as a crop to help battle food shortages. The organization has helped to establish a sustainable soybean farming industry in Afghanistan and has now worked with thousands of farmers across the entire country providing farming education and supplies.

In Mali, International Relief & Development, also an Alliance member organization, works to improve the productivity of farming, increase access to funding and improved technology, and provide education that will improve farmers ability to market their product. The program primarily focuses on small family farms and female farmers as well as small cooperatives.

The Alliance to End Hunger continues to grow with the addition of new members and actively participate in conferences and forums on ending hunger worldwide. In October of this year The Alliance will be a participant at the Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium alongside world political leaders and distinguished academics. The conference will have a segment focusing on building partnerships, which is a key aspect of the Alliance to End Hunger’s mission. The Alliance feels that it is imperative that collaboration continue to build if an effective end to hunger is to be reached.

– Zoë Meroney 
Sources: Alliance to End Hunger, International Relief and Development
Photo: Exprima Media

Global Hunger Statistics in 2013

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For those involved in the fight against global hunger, it is important to remain up-to-date on the numbers of people who are affected by hunger and malnutrition every year. Although global hunger still plagues a large portion of the world, the number of those affected decreases annually. Here are a few current global hunger statistics:

  1. 870 million people do not eat enough every day to be considered healthy.
  2. 98% of the world’s hungry live in the developing world.
  3. 15% of the population in the developing world is malnourished.
  4. One third of children’s deaths in developing countries are due to malnutrition.
  5. Hunger is responsible for more deaths every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
  6. One out of six children (about 100 million) in developing countries are underweight.
  7. One in four children in the world are stunted. This rises to one in three in many areas of the developing world.
  8. 80% of stunted children live in just 20 countries.
  9. If women received equal treatment (access to land, education, etc) as men, 100-150 million fewer cases of hunger would occur every year.
  10. By 2050, an additional 24 million children could fall into hunger because of climate change.

The good news: the amount needed to provide a child with a healthy diet of vitamins and nutrients is merely 25 cents per day. World hunger is 100% solvable.

– Mary Penn

Sources: World Food Programme, Stop Hunger Now

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Fighting Hunger With Hunger: The Fast-a-Thon

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Hundreds of organizations around the world work to raise awareness of world hunger. “Nearly 870 million people, or one in eight people in the world, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012.” Statistics such as this, along with photographs and true stories of the world’s hungry have found their way to people who can help. But what these figures and images cannot do to a person is allow them to know what hunger really is—to move one beyond sympathy and allow them to possess real comprehension of what hunger feels like. This is the premise upon which the “Fast-a-Thon” was laid.

For years, college campuses across the U.S. and Canada have held annual “Fast-a-Thons” in an effort to fight hunger, both locally and internationally. The idea was coined by the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and has since been taken on by hundreds of college campuses, charity organizations, and businesses across continental America.

Here’s how it works: a group of students, community members, co-workers, etc. pledge to fast for a day (some for 24 hours, some from morning to evening). For each pledge, a business sponsor donates a certain amount of money to a charity of the group’s choosing. At the end of the day, Fast-a-Thon participants come together to share a meal to break their fast. In solidarity with those in hunger and in support of alleviating their pain, Fast-a-Thon participants have raised hundreds to thousands of dollars to feed the hungry.

Interested in hosting a Fast-a-Thon in your community? Follow this easy step-by-step guide:

1. Find the beneficiary to whom all donations will go towards. This could be a local soup kitchen or an umbrella organization fighting hunger.

2. Find businesses that will sponsor your Fast-a-Thon or, in other words, agree to donate a certain amount of money to your chosen beneficiary for every Fast-a-Thon pledge made.

3. Spread the word and encourage everyone to pledge and participate!

4. Host a dinner where participants can break their fasts together.

– Lina Saud

Sources: World Hunger, MSA Texas
Photo: Stephen Leahy

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Global Poverty Could End by Giving Women Land

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Why Women?
A lack of distinct land ownership laws leads to poorly cultivated land and hungry families who are forced to work as day laborers or indentured servants. This weighs even more heavily on women, who are rarely given the opportunity to act as a land owner. In addition to benefiting the women themselves, recent studies have shown that giving land rights to women can have a direct impact on the elimination of global poverty.

Women Can Bring Home The Bacon Too

Rural women play a large part in agricultural production. According to the UN, women workers are involved in fisheries, agro-forestry, and wild-harvesting systems. They work along-side men to produce commercial crops, manage livestock and grow vegetable gardens. However, women also have the added burden of caring for their families.

Despite their crucial work in both production and family well-being, rural women are often under recognized laborers. Most rural women are unpaid or highly underpaid. This means that rural women frequently work in “unofficial” or informal agricultural settings. In India alone, 34% of informal women’s employment is made up of unpaid agricultural work. In Egypt, the percentage comes in at a staggering 85% compared to the 10% for men. Furthermore, many institutions do not recognize or define rural women’s work as economically active employment.
However, the UN is now calling for the economic empowerment of women as a means to combat global poverty. Economic empowerment can first come through the recognition of women’s land rights. Land ownership leads to greater respect, status and increased decision-making power for women.

Research indicates that land ownership can lead farming communities to reinvest in improving their production. This no doubt contributes to greater food security alongside increased welfare for individual families. Research also indicates that when women have land rights, there is an even greater improvement upon food security and hunger. This is largely due to the fact that women are more likely to focus on sustainable crops for their families as opposed to the riskier cash crops that are exported out of the nation.

Women with rights to their own land are also more likely to have a higher status and higher income within their community. This kind of empowerment enables women to make decisions that ensure improved nutrition for themselves and their children. Additionally, women with higher social standings are also likely to be healthier themselves. The effect of such is increased infant survival rate and higher birth-weight children. In fact, research on child malnourishment in Nepal suggests that infants born to mothers that own land are half as likely to be born critically underweight.

Ultimately, increased support for land rights coincides with Millennium Development goals to reduce poverty. But more importantly, land rights give hard-working rural women a chance to better enjoy the fruits of their labor.

– Grace Zhao
Sources: The Christian Science Monitor UN
Photo: Declan McCullagh

What is Guatemala’s “Milk Program”?

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Guatemala is located in Central America, with borders of Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The country has an overall population of nearly 15 million people, and faces a chronic malnutrition rate for children under 5 of about 50%, which is incredibly high. In fact, the malnutrition rates of children in Guatemala are the 4th highest in the entire world. Guatemala helps account for a high amount of stunting, which is the inability to grow; as in, children are unable to fully grow due to lack of nutrition and proper food. In indigenous areas of Guatemala, chronic undernutrition affects about 70% of the population. Overall, over half of Guatemalans (53%) live in poverty, and about 13% live in extreme poverty. Children and women have the worst of it. There is also food insecurity and economic insecurity. Clearly, something needs to be done in order to reduce malnutrition within the country and to reduce the incredibly high rate of child mortality and stunting.

Save the Children is an organization that just launched a milk program in Guatemala in order to fight the chronic malnutrition. Save the Children fights for the rights and lives of vulnerable children and families; the organization takes part in several focus areas including emergency relief and long-term recovery programs. So far, Save the Children has help over 125 million children in almost 120 countries by working with partners and running programs to help them have better access to food and water, and to fight for their rights. Save the Children’s priorities are to “ensure that children in need are safe, educated and healthy, and are better to attain their rights.” In the case of the milk program in Guatemala, the program is meant to help children be healthy, which would result in giving them a better chance at life and success as they grow older.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. is Save the Children’s partner in the milk program in Guatemala, and so is USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. GMCR has award-winning coffee and is the creater of the popular Keurig brewing technology. Most importantly in the context of this article, they have business practices that reflect Corporate Social Responsibility. They aim to give their customers “convenience, variety and consistent great taste.” They were founded 32 years ago, and have recently released their 2012 sustainability report. Basically, GMCR wants to give back to the community, both in North America and the entire world. They have a business – “Brewing a Better World Together” – and wish to improve the world through it. Part of the way they are doing this is by supporting the milk program in Guatemala.

Together, Save the Children and GMCR launched the milk program in Guatemala; they opened a goat-raising center in Guatemala so that the goat milk program can fight child malnutrition. This center will raise goats in order to get goat milk, which will then be distributed to the families that are facing chronic, extreme malnutrition. In all, over 2,000 families will benefit from the goat milk program. In addition to the goat-raising center, Save the Children and GMCR will provide education of making money and sustainability; they will educate the families about selling surplus milk, and of making cheese and yogurt from the milk. The USAID Mission Director Kevin Kelly commented that the goat center would “generate income and food security among the extreme poor in Gatemala’s Western Highlands.” This center is just one small step towards fighting malnutrition in Guatemala.

– Corina Balsamo 
Sources: The Examiner, GMCR, Save the Children, World Food Programme
Photo: Universal Giving

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5 Facts About World Hunger

5 Facts About World Hunger

When most people think of world hunger, they picture the emaciated children shown on television commercials or news footage of refugees lining up for food rations. The media portrays hunger as a dire emergency directly resulting from natural disasters, war, or some other kind of unrest. These graphic examples of acute hunger do portray actual people and circumstances, but they fail to account for 92 percent of the world’s hungry who suffer from chronic undernourishment rather than food emergencies. Though the number of people living with chronic hunger has decreased by 130 million people over the past two decades, one in eight people in the world still goes to bed hungry each night. Listed below are five facts about world hunger.

5 Facts About World Hunger

  1. Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Listed as the number one health risk on the WHO’s list of the world’s top ten threats to health, hunger causes 10 million deaths each year. That is roughly equivalent to the number of people killed in the Holocaust.
  2. If female farmers had the same access to resources as their male counterparts, the number of the world’s hungry could be reduced by 150 million people. Though women often hold responsibility for feeding their families, they face severe constraints in accessing the materials and markets needed to contribute successfully to the agriculture sector.
  3. 870 million people currently suffer from hunger. 98 percent of these people live in developing countries, with the largest proportion living in Asia and the Pacific. While the number of hungry people is declining in Asia and Latin America, it is steadily rising in sub-Saharan Africa.
  4. Another 24 million children could be hungry by the year 2050 due to climate change and irregular weather patterns. $7.1-7.3 billion is needed in order to offset the negative impact of climate change on world hunger.
  5. According to the World Food Programme, hunger is the “single biggest solvable problem” facing the world today. It costs just $0.25 per day to provide a child with the nutrients he or she needs to live, and $3.2 billion is needed to feed the 66-million school-age children who are currently hungry. While this may seem like a large amount of money, the U.S. spends more than 200 times that amount on the military alone.

– Katie Bandera

Sources: WFP, World Hunger