Archive for category: Hunger

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10 Impacts on Food and Hunger in Iceland


Iceland, a small island nation located in the North Atlantic northwest of the United Kingdom, went bankrupt in 2008 when global financial markets collapsed. Since then, the economy has recovered, but many factors affect its food-related economy. Here are 10 impacts on food and hunger in Iceland.

  1. Natural disasters have a tremendous impact on Iceland’s food security. As a result of the April 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, for instance, hundreds of acres of local farmland were coated in four inches of ash.
  2. Food poverty among Icelandic children, measured by the inability to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetable equivalent every second day, was 6% in 2012.
  3. The depth of hunger is measured by the energy deficit in undernourished people using kilocalories. In Somalia, for example, the deficit is 490 kilocalories a day. In Iceland, the deficit is 130 kilocalories a day.
  4. High global food prices and the devaluation of Iceland’s currency following its bankruptcy weakened food security.
  5. Fears that the European Union would negatively impact food security in Iceland is among the reasons it dropped its bid to join. Among those who lobbied hardest against joining the EU were Iceland’s farmers, who used “food security” terminology to accentuate the need for more local food production.
  6. Though fishing accounts for 40% of its exports, Iceland produces just half of its people’s nutritional needs and relies on imports.
  7. After declaring sovereign bankruptcy in 2008, Iceland turned to its fishing industry to help it recover. Unfortunately, the price of fish fell 40% in some markets due to the global recession.
  8. Most of Europe has over-fished local waters, but not Iceland. It has an abundant supply. Unfortunately, fishing companies that had invested in domestic banking are now heavily in debt. What’s worse, recession in important markets weakened demand.
  9. The success of Iceland’s economy is heavily dependent upon other economies. That, coupled with its relative isolation, means that food shortages could result from disruptions in importing or exporting.
  10. Icelandic households are unprepared for food shortages. A 2011 survey indicated that most have a supply that would last for just a week. The situation is not much better for food suppliers. Their stores would be depleted in less than a month.

As these impacts on food and hunger in Iceland indicate, food poverty is not only a problem in the developing world, and it continues to have a disproportionate impact on children. In addition, even countries with plenty of food to export can be dependent on food imports and what it takes to produce food. What may be more, when talking about impacts on food and hunger in Iceland, is the effect of natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions.

– Laurie Gold

Photo: Flickr

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Hunger in Samoa is Still A Crisis


Following destructive cyclones in 1990 and 1991, much of Samoa’s agriculture was destroyed. This has caused major setbacks for food production. To alleviate the huge deficit in food resources, the country sought out help from donor nations as well as the World Food Programme. Despite the help from donor nations and relief programs, problems still remain with hunger in Samoa today.

In an address in 1996 by the country’s Deputy Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, it was stated that the 1993 food production recovery program was making headway until a fungal disease wreaked havoc on the crops. With natural disasters and failed production recovery programs not making any progress, Malielegaoi and the government of Samoa committed to the World Food Summit Plan of Action in hopes of combatting hunger in Samoa and rebuilding the food recovery program.

Years later, hunger in Samoa is still a crisis. In 2006, the depth of hunger index–which measures the number of people who fall short of minimum food needs–was reported at 210, and, by 2008, the depth of hunger had decreased to 150, a significant reduction. In addition, the depth of the food deficit was at 22 kilocalories per person per day, while the percent of malnutrition prevalence in children under 5 was at 1.7%. The number of undernourished people in Samoa was reported at 100,000 in 2008, an estimated 5% of the population.

Despite the lack of progress, in 2013, the Samoan government and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced that Samoa was among 40 countries to have cut hunger in half. This success was one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals set by the U.N. in 2000 to be achieved by 2015.

In response to Samoa’s hard work, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Samoa Hon. LeMamea Ropati Mualia stated that “Samoa has put into place decisive policies and actions to accelerate hunger reduction,” and this is “a good signal for our beloved country’s economic growth and sustainability.”

Although there is no current data on unemployment rates and the population living below the poverty line, and with the GDP increase of $.031 billion from 2015 to 2016, which ranked Samoa 203rd in the world, it can be inferred that there has been a slow but steady decrease in hunger in Samoa.

– Amira Wynn

Photo: Flickr

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The Impact of Hunger in Montenegro

Hunger in Montenegro

Montenegro is a small Balkan country in Southeastern Europe located between the Adriatic Sea and Serbia. Although hunger in Montenegro is currently not as severe as it is in its surrounding countries, recent data indicates that it still affects the lives of approximately 12.3% of the nation’s population. As such, below is a list of three initiatives that seek to diminish the persistent impact of hunger throughout the country, ranging from state-led reform to international aid. 

  1. Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience in the Montenegrin Mountain Areas project (GORA). The GORA project aims to relieve climate-related pressures for approximately 12,500 small-scale farmers and rural communities scattered throughout 14 municipalities of northern Montenegro. As of 2024, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has allocated approximately $10 million towards the project, hoping to ease climate-related pressures for around 12,500 households located in northern Montenegro. Given the region’s mountainous ecosystem, northern Montenegro is especially vulnerable to increases in temperature that have the potential to devastate key resources and infrastructure. In particular, flash floods and droughts can cause severe disruptions to harvests and water storage, reducing the availability of food throughout the region. In light of these risks, GORA seeks to enhance ecosystem and smallholder livelihood resilience by promoting climate-resilient practices, increasing income stability and promoting diverse production systems. 
  2. FAO–Montenegro Country Programming Framework (CPF) 2023–2027. In July 2023, the Government of Montenegro and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced their partnership to improve the country’s food and agriculture sector, outlining their strategies in the CPF. Intended to induce institutional change, the CPF intends to support the sustainable, inclusive and competitive economic development of Montenegro’s agrifood sector through the enhanced natural resource management of forests and the promotion of new agricultural practices designed to reduce the economy’s impact on the environment. With an estimated 70% of the rural population’s income generated through agricultural means, improvements to farming conditions are vital in ensuring long-term food security for those living in underdeveloped and isolated areas. 
  3. The 2022 Montenegro Nutrition Survey (MONS). MONS was a national cross-sectional survey conducted primarily by The Institute of Public Health of Montenegro and UNICEF to understand the scope of micronutrient deficiencies and nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases in women and children throughout the country. The data collected by the survey identified iron deficiencies and cardiometabolic disease as prevalent among these groups, primarily as a result of insufficient dietary diversity. Breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices were also discovered to be suboptimal, contributing to moderate rates of anemia among both mothers and infants. By providing reliable statistics on various nutritional conditions widespread among women and children, the MONS ultimately functioned as a helpful resource for Montenegrin policymakers seeking to implement nutritional intervention programs for these demographics. 

Recognizing its vulnerability to external shocks, Montenegro aims to strengthen its overall stability in the coming years. By engaging in constructive partnerships with the IFAD, FAO and UNICEF, the country has been able to vastly improve its ongoing efforts to reduce hunger in regions and populations still lacking in social welfare. Moving forward, key Montenegrin stakeholders hope to merge sustainable agrifood systems with traditional food cultures to not only reduce the impact of hunger throughout the nation but also promote inclusivity – ensuring that no one is left behind.

– Emma Tennyson, Moon Jung Kim

Photo: Google

Updated: November 25, 2024

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Kuwaiti Leaders and their Attempts to End Hunger in Kuwait

Mohammad Al-Jabri, Minister of Municipal Affairs, announced that Kuwait is in full support of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as it seeks the elimination of international hunger and poverty.

According to Kuwait Times, Jabri made this announcement in Rome during the 40th Session FAO Conference on July 3, 2017. Jabri solidified Kuwait’s efforts to cooperate with FAO by signing an agreement for the agricultural development, which will help enhance Kuwait’s food and nutrition security while developing human and natural resources to eliminate hunger in Kuwait.

Additionally, a representative of Kuwait announced Kuwait’s preliminary approval of two projects including the DNA project for agriculture and the project of agricultural waste recycling. The increasingly high temperatures of Kuwait’s regional waters and immense environmental pollution put the country, specifically fisheries, in danger of climate change, which has a notoriously negative impact on hunger in Kuwait.

Climate change imposes a number of threats on the people of Kuwait. Without proper modern technology to combat the rising temperatures, a large portion of the country’s food supply is being compromised. Additionally, potable water is diminishing at rapid rates due to the lack of proper technology necessary to clean local water.

The amount of potable water is diminishing as the water supply is getting smaller and smaller in a country that is getting hotter and hotter. With this destructive climate change comes the lack of water needed to cultivate crops. Thus, leaders of Kuwait are teaming with FAO in an attempt to save the scarce water supply via water harvesting, drip irrigation and wastewater treatment.

Rising temperatures make land that was once fertile incapable of producing the food that the people of Kuwait rely on. Only approximately 0.3 percent of the country is utilized for crop production. According to FAO, the land that is used for the cultivation of crops is frequently unreliable as it is very poor in the organic nutritional matter, so there are limited opportunities to alleviate hunger in Kuwait.

The Center of Kuwait is one of the few areas that possess rich, sandy soil that allows for the transfer of air and water, making crop production much more possible. However, this small area of the country is unable to produce enough food for the entire population of Kuwait. With the desert-like climate of Kuwait that is constantly increasing in temperature, this already limited farmable area is rapidly diminishing.

A country constantly battling poverty and hunger, Kuwait is pursuing joint Arab action to help people in Kuwait. By tackling economic, humanitarian, educational and media objectives, leaders of Kuwait are uniting to protect Arab societies and interests. And at the forefront of these is, as it long has been, hunger.

With massive economic issues, an outbreak of diseases, poverty and famine, Kuwait is struggling to fight the inevitable consequences of living in a world of immense poverty and hunger. Jabri and the rest of Kuwait are hopeful that by partnering with FAO, these issues can be stopped in their tracks and eventually hunger in Kuwait will be reversed entirely.

– Kassidy Tarala

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Starvation Since 2008: Poverty and Hunger in Latvia

Hunger in Latvia
Formerly a part of the USSR, Latvia is a member of the EU for the past 13 years. The country is home to over two million people, and it is slightly larger than West Virginia. The recession of 2008 deeply affected the Latvian economy, and as a result, the country has a massive income gap. Additionally, as of 2013, Latvia gave less aid to the poor than any other members of the EU. These conditions leave ample room for the number of those living in poverty to increase, which makes hunger in Latvia an important issue.

Historically, Latvia lacks an adequate food supply. Children suffer most from hunger in Latvia, and malnutrition steadily weakened the population since the end of World War I.

As of 2014, almost 20 percent of Latvians were living under the poverty line. It is the third-poorest country in the EU. Of those in poverty, the average family lives on an average of 215 euros or less, not enough to feed the whole family. In 2012, 100,000 citizens had a monthly income of less than 65 euros.

While hunger in Latvia is still an issue, the country greatly improved in the past decade. Since 2000, Latvia decreased their Global Health Index rating by 59 percent. The Global Health Index gives countries a score from zero to 100 based on undernourishment, child mortality and other factors. The lower the score, the healthier the country is.

Many organizations contributed to the decrease in poverty and hunger in Latvia. The American Relief Administration worked to feed the hungry, especially children. Carelinks Ministry, a religious outreach organization, worked in Riga, Latvia, serving food to the poor, especially in the colder months. With people partnering to reduce hunger in Latvia, the country will continue to decrease their GHI rating.

– Julia Mccartney

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Hunger in Serbia

The hunger and deprivation that plagued refugee camps during the Kosovo War inspired Clint Borgen to found The Borgen Project, and one of the countries that saw the largest influx of suffering refugees during that time was Serbia. Though conditions today are far better than they were in 1999, hunger in Serbia is still a problem. Here are 10 facts about the past and present conditions.

  1. In 1999, the U.N. World Food Program distributed 145,000 tons of food to Serbia, feeding approximately 890,000 undernourished people. At that time, the WFP compared conditions in Serbia, where 10 percent of the population faced a humanitarian crisis, to those in North Korea.
  2. In 2008, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) was 7.8 in Serbia and has since dropped to 7.1 in 2016. The GHI uses undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and child mortality in their formula for determining hunger levels.
  3. The proportion of people experiencing hunger in Serbia, meaning they have insufficient caloric intake, was 6.9 percent in 2016, an improvement from 7.4 percent in 2008.
  4. The prevalence of wasting in children younger than five, which means their weight is low relative to their height, was 3.9 percent, down from four percent in 2008. Wasting is a measure of acute malnutrition.
  5. The prevalence of stunting in children younger than five, which means their height is low for their age, was six percent, down from 7.4 percent in 2008. Stunting is representative of chronic malnutrition.
  6. The mortality rate for children under the age of five is .7 percent, a small improvement from .8 percent in 2008.
  7. Of 113 index countries, the Global Food Security Index ranks Serbia 47th in affordability, 65th in availability and 52nd in quality and safety. Their overall rank for food security is 59.4, making them 52nd overall of the 113 countries.
  8. The Global Food Security Index also reports that hunger in Serbia leaves the average intensity of food deprivation at eight kilocalories per person per day. Each day, Serbia’s population lacks a total of 336,00,000 kilocalories.
  9. Because the nation has been a member of the U.N. since 2000, hunger in Serbia is a major factor in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda is comprised of 17 goals, the second of which is “zero hunger.”
  10. Because it is far cheaper, it was reported that Serbians ate three times more bread than the average EU citizen in 2014 (89 kilograms/year), and close to a third of the amount of meat, at 35 kilograms per year, compared to 90 in Germany, 91 in Italy and 102 in France.

Conditions have been steadily improving to help eliminate hunger in Serbia. Where the country faced a humanitarian crisis at the beginning of the century, it is now working with the U.N. to meet a goal of zero hunger by 2030. The statistics concerning Global Hunger and Global Food Security clearly illustrate the successes of aid programs and domestic growth in the country, while the presence of malnutrition and child mortality reiterates that until there is no hunger, there is always more to be done.

– Brooke Clayton

Photo: Flickr

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How to Help the Hungry

Help the Hungry

One of the U.N.’s sustainable development goals for ending poverty by 2030 is to end hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. The question raised from this information is how to help the hungry?  The answer is to support global works that engage in local communities and advocate for hunger-related issues.

Below are six ways to participate in the reduction of global hunger.

  1. Reduce food waste.
    Being more conscious of eating habits and not overbuying can ensure food does not go to waste.  Buying produce at a local farmer’s market that may be thrown out because of their size, shape, or color can also prevent food from going to waste.  One can also volunteer with a local gleaning group to pick up fruit and vegetables thrown away.
  2. Shop local.
    Shopping at local farmer’s markets can also improve an individual’s local economy. Many people earn their income by running local businesses, and by supporting them, one can help keep people employed and assist them in making a living.
  3. Support food banks.
    Since most food banks serve ready-to-eat foods, one can host a food drive in their local community.  After the drive is over, the donated food such as canned or shelf-stable foods then has the potential to feed the hungry. One can also give money to food banks and other nonprofits that fight hunger on top as being a volunteer.
  4. Elect officials who support alleviating starvation and contact Congress in support of bills that help the hungry.
    By electing officials who support ending hunger and contacting Congress, one can increase their country’s involvement in efforts fighting global hunger. Phone calls, sending emails, and letters to ones elected officials can also influence the national agenda. Once elected representatives begin to understand constituents care about ending global hunger, accomplishing this change is possible.
  5. Organize a meal packaging event with groups that one is involved with or join groups that support sustainable agriculture projects, clean water initiatives, or provide food aid.  Engaging in community-based efforts and advocacy has a substantial effect at fighting global hunger.
  6. Be an advocate.
    One can help the hungry by supporting hunger-related issues in their community and finding out how they can help. Through advocacy, one can create an informed public who will join the fight to end hunger.

According to the U.N., “A profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed if we are to nourish today’s 795 million hungry and the additional 2 billion people expected by 2050.”

– Sarah Dunlap

Photo: Flickr

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What is Food Assistance for Assets and How Does it Work?


More than 10% of the world’s population does not have regular access to food and 50% of these families are farmers. The majority of hungry people live in Asian and African countries. Countries with higher natural disaster rates are not able to access food regularly, due to the destruction of their communities and farmlands. The World Food Programme began the Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) program and other programs like it to help combat this issue. FFA focuses on restoring land and rebuilding communities while assisting people in need, but many people have never heard of it.

Food Assistance for Assets is a program that feeds people and works through them to rehabilitate suffering communities. Through this program, people are given work, such as building and repairing bridges and roads. In return, they gain two things. First, they are paid so that they can buy food for themselves and their families. In addition, the work that they have done helps strengthen and develop their communities, many of which have fallen victim to natural disasters.

While this program may seem to only benefit individuals, it has helped larger communities as well. FFA programs exist in 52 countries, where 10.1 million people have received help from the program. Rehabilitation programs include building water wells and planting trees to restore forests.

These facts help shed light on the impact of the Food Assistance for Assets programs and emphasizes the work that this program does to provide food to people around the world. There is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone, but without programs like FFA, many people are unable to access or pay for enough food to feed their families. Several organizations, including the U.N., hope that through assistance programs such as the FFA and through the increased sustainability of food, world hunger will be eradicated by 2030.

– Helen Barker

Photo: Flickr

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How Many People Die from Hunger Each Year


Hunger continues to be the world’s biggest health problem. Hunger is one of the most emblematic images of poverty: the picture of stunted, malnourished children tends to resonate empathetical feelings in almost anyone. Just thinking of an image like this shows how, in one way or another, society knows how much suffering world hunger causes. With this information, the real question is how many people die from hunger each year.

This year, 36 million people will die from starvation. Essentially, that equates to a person dying of hunger every second of the year. Of these 36 million inhabitants, children are especially vulnerable. Every minute, 12 children under the age of five will die of hunger. This fact represents a death every five seconds.

The question itself of hunger, not just hunger-related deaths, is just as equally an important issue. The Oxford English Dictionary defines hunger as the want or scarcity of food in a country. The current world population is more than seven billion, and 795 million people, or one in every nine people, suffer from hunger. Almost all of these people are living in developing countries. Countries in Asia suffer from this problem more than any other region, with 525 million people suffering. Sub-Saharan African countries follow with a combined 214 million.

These regions are the most susceptible to conflict and drought, and usually, these tragedies end in famine.  All of these factors are a direct relation to hunger. Consequently, 50 percent of all hungry people are families that depend on agriculture.

While there may have been an extreme spike in cases of hunger from 1995 to 2009 (an increase from sub-800 million hungry citizens to more than one billion in 2009), there has been a stark and continual decrease from 2009 to 2017. Currently, the world is seeing the lowest number of hungry people since 1995. There are 200 million fewer people suffering from hunger than there were 25 years ago.

With the understanding of how many people die from hunger each year and how many people still suffer from it, the question is how can this issue be addressed? One method to fight against global hunger is by supporting The Borgen Project. The Borgen Project places its focus on alleviating global poverty.  By ridding the world of poverty, there will directly influence those who are also suffering from hunger.

– James Hardison

Photo: Flickr

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5 Organizations Fighting Famine in East Africa


According to U.N. Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O’Brien, the world faces its worst humanitarian crisis since World War II in the current famine affecting certain African and Middle Eastern countries. More than 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria are facing severe starvation and malnutrition. In addition to the U.N.’s push to mobilize aid to these countries, smaller organizations have made a concentrated effort to fight famine in East Africa.

5 Organizations Fighting Famine in East Africa

  1. Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a nonprofit organization focused on fighting global starvation, annually producing more than a million meals that are shipped to impoverished countries. FMSC operates in several locations around the Twin Cities, hosting volunteer meal preparation shifts six days a week. The current East African crisis has prompted FMSC to increase its efforts. The organization now aims to produce an additional 10 million meals to reduce starvation in Somalia.
  2. The Léger Foundation has been combatting global poverty and social exclusion for over 65 years. In June 2017, it joined Canada’s growing Famine Relief Fund, which focuses on providing aid to the millions of Africans affected by the famine. While currently responding to humanitarian demand in Cameroon, The Léger Foundation is expanding outreach to other countries afflicted by the famine including Nigeria and South Sudan. As a new member of the Famine Relief Fund, the foundation will see its donations doubled by Canada’s government through the end of June to support famine relief.
  3. SOS Children’s Villages is another member of the Famine Relief Fund dedicated to fighting famine in East Africa. SOS traditionally operates as a nonprofit centered on providing homes for orphaned and abandoned children and has built more than 550 children’s villages. These provide children with food, shelter, education and a family life. The recent famine has prompted SOS Children’s Villages to shift its focus to East Africa. Fundraising efforts are now aimed at alleviating food shortages caused by drought and subsequent livestock loss.
  4. Caritas Australia is a Catholic charity working to end poverty and facilitate global development for people of all backgrounds. Recently Caritas launched a program called Africa Emergency Appeal to mobilize its humanitarian network of partners to respond to the famine in East Africa. Caritas and its partner agencies currently provide local assistance in delivering clean water, sanitation supplies and food such as sugar, beans and maize flour.
  5. Save the Children is a British charity that promotes children’s rights and seeks to improve conditions for children globally through healthcare and education. In response to the famine in East Africa, Save the Children aims to reach children under the age of five and provide aid to those most at risk for malnutrition and diseases such as malaria. With humanitarian infrastructure already in place in the affected countries, Save the Children can turn its focus to fighting famine in ways such as increasing malnutrition screenings in Nigeria or distributing vouchers for supplies in Somalia.

These are just a few of the many organizations that have responded swiftly to the growing humanitarian crisis in Africa. While there is still need for further funding in these countries, these organizations are doing all they can to bring immediate relief and save lives.

– Nicholas Dugan

Photo: Flickr