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5 NGOs Fighting World Hunger

Five NGOs Fighting World HungerEnding world hunger isn’t an easy task. For decades now, famine and food insecurity have caused problems worldwide. When kids are malnourished, they are unable to successfully perform at school, limiting their chances at an education. They are also at risk of weakened immune systems. Non-governmental organizations are working to help fight famine. Here are five NGOs fighting world hunger all across the world.

5 NGOs Fighting World Hunger

  1. Action Against Hunger. Action Against Hunger is a global nonprofit organization that has been working to end famine since 1979. Originally starting in France, Action Against Hunger now works in more than 50 countries worldwide, including Malawi, Cambodia, Nepal and Ethiopia. The organization takes a hands-on approach, addressing malnutrition through several points. These include developing nutritional products, promoting food security through public health and using research to develop nutritional products. The final goal of the organization is ending world hunger.
  2. A Growing Culture. A Growing Culture believes in ending word hunger by advocating for independent, smallholder farmers everywhere. According to the organization, smallholder farmers make up 94 percent of the world farms while providing 70 percent of the world’s food. A Growing Culture supports farmers in creating sustainable agricultural practices through outreach, information exchange and advocacy. By doing this, it ensures that local farms can grow crops to help their local communities. Sustainable farming practices are better for ecological systems as well as people. Smallholder farms have less risk of pesticide abuse, waste runoff and water supply contamination.
  3. The Carbon Underground. The Carbon Underground believes in ending world hunger by using a technique called regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is described as “a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds and enhances ecosystem services.” This can include capturing carbon in the soil while reversing atmospheric accumulation. The Carbon Underground organization also believes that regenerative agriculture is beneficial for food and freshwater security and healthier food production. Furthermore, it supports the world’s farmers. These benefits can change entire communities and cities. When people have access to fresh water and clean crops, they are able to have nutritious meals, feel more focused in school or work and contribute to society.
  4. The Small Planet Institute. In the late 1960s, Frances Moore Lappé began writing a book that would revolutionize the way people would think about food. The book, titled “Diet for a Small Planet,” sold more than three million copies. In the book, Lappé discusses the myth of “scarcity in a world of plenty.” It dives into concepts of responsible agriculture, the environmental impact of animal products and the philosophy of food. The award-winning book went on to become the inspiration for The Small Planet Institute, an organization that she began with her daughter. One of the main programs of the group is dedicated to ending world hunger by discussing some of the myths and facts about famine.
  5. Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) believes in transitioning Africa toward safe agriculture and an environmentally friendly future. The AFSA also strongly believes in consumer action. This means that consumers should have a say in the crops grown, the way they are produced and agroecology. Agroecology is the link between agriculture and the ecological process in which it can flourish. By giving African citizens the skills they need to succeed in farms, they are able to contribute more to society, send children to school and give communities the ability to flourish independently.

World hunger continues to be a problem worldwide. However, non-government organizations are stepping in to help combat these problems. Malnutrition and famine are proven to hinder students in school, parents in the workforce and communities. But with the help of these organizations, vulnerable people are able to get the assistance they need in the fight toward ending world hunger.

– Asha Swann
Photo: Flickr

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Could Jackfruit Be Key to Ending World Hunger?

ending world hungerIt may seem crazy, but a fruit with the consistency of pulled pork, a putrid smell and a taste similar to pineapple could be one of the keys to ending world hunger. This crop, the jackfruit, can weigh up to 100 pounds and is rich in protein, potassium and vitamins.

Unfortunately, with its notorious smell, jackfruit has fallen out of favor with consumers in the nations where it most commonly grows in the wild: India and Bangladesh. In India alone, more than 75 percent of the yearly yield goes to waste.

How Is Jackfruit Ending World Hunger?

Recent cautions from the World Bank and the United Nations illustrate how inconsistent rain and soaring temperatures have already reduced wheat and corn yields, and food wars within the next decade are a possibility.

There is an upside. The crops affected most by climate change also have substantial requirements for irrigation and pesticides. The jackfruit, on the other hand, is a perennial (meaning it regrows every year on its own). While it takes up to seven years to bear fruit, which means farmers have to wait, a single tree can yield between 150 and 200 gargantuan fruits per year. It serves plenty of uses, as it can be found in soups, jams and even ice cream. People eat them fresh, dried or roasted. The wood is even rot resistant. With the fruit’s versatility and the ease with which it is cultivated, it is no surprise experts are excited about the jackfruit’s ability to aid in ending world hunger.

Who Loves Jackfruit?

There is an organization aptly called Project Jackfruit that is looking to make jackfruit as readily available as possible over the world. The project believes jackfruit’s status as a “miracle crop” is just another reason it is essential to ending world hunger. It also states that the procurement of the crop will help fight climate change, eliminate waste, feed hungry populations and provide another revenue stream for impoverished farmers in South Asia. The organization markets the fruit globally and has set up relationships with Indian farmers to scale up their production.

The Indian government has gotten on the bandwagon by launching initiatives to increase the fruit’s use in a can and as a processed food. India is fighting to destroy jackfruit’s stigma as a “poor man’s food” via marketing strategies throughout the country. It is outsourcing these projects to local universities such as the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, which devoted two days to a conference that detailed plans to ramp up production and further market the jackfruit and its cousin, the breadfruit.

Looking Forward

Only a handful of commercial jackfruit farms are commercially viable at this point. Still, the future looks bright for the jackfruit. Governments are pushing the resilient crop in their own countries, as well as in food-insecure countries. At the University of Agricultural Sciences, a researcher referred to the fruit as a “miracle.” Combine all this effort with the rise of private investments such as Project Jackfruit, it will be no surprise if jackfruit is a primary part of the discussion behind ending world hunger.

– David Jaques

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Common Solutions to Food Insecurity Worldwide

Food Insecurity in America and World’s Poorest Countries Has Common SolutionThe United 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…” As important as these words are, they have not yet become a reality for many people in the world. Some common solutions to food insecurity may help alleviate world hunger.

Falling Short of the U.N. Standards

Often, countries represented in the U.N. fall short on the promise to provide adequate, nutritious food to everyone, including the United States of America. Malnutrition and food insecurities can be attributed to many causes worldwide: 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 populations. Ethnic minority groups, women and children and those living in rural areas 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, out of Niger’s population of 11.5 million in 2002, 2.5 million people living in farming or grazing areas were vulnerable to food insecurities.

Identifying the Problem in Food Distribution

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/medium-sized farmer is able to work with big food distributors, they are typically not paid enough to survive.” Essentially, the middlemen are taking profit directly out of the farmer’s hands.

In America, 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 very long distances throughout this process to be consumed by people who could have purchased comparable foods grown much closer to home.

One example is the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center (HPFDC), which 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. It supplies over 50 percent of the food consumed by people in the area and also supplies its goods to about 20 percent of people in the region. Yet, still, the Food Bank of New York City reported a meal gap of 242 million in 2014 and food insecurity levels of 22.3 percent, with 399,000 of those people being children.

Solutions Lie in Local Support

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 nations like Niger. Through helping those like Nigeriens build sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems for crop cultivation, the WFP hopes to lower the high levels of food insecurities and issues related to them, such as malnutrition and the high mortality rate among children under the age of five.

One essential component in the common solutions to food insecurity is assisting locals with the sustainable management of local natural resources through soil conservation, water harvesting, rehabilitating irrigation systems and reducing the loss of biodiversity. This is directed toward localized measures to solve food deficiency issues.

The same steps need to happen in America. The HPFDC in New York, in an effort led by Mayor Bill de Blasio, is planning to upgrade facilities and operations. A plan that includes working with other food distributors at the state level to increase integration with upstate and regional food distribution, supporting local farms and providing growth opportunities for emerging regional food distribution models.

These common solutions to food insecurity could help feed millions of people around the world. Reducing the middlemen in food distribution will put more money back into the hands of the farmers. Additionally, by reinforcing sustainable farming at local levels, farmers will have more opportunities to provide relief from food insecurity in their own communities with more nutritional diversity, which can reduce malnutrition and high mortality rates.

– Matrinna Woods

Photo: Flickr

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An Era of Food Sustainability to End World Hunger

An Era of Food Sustainability to End World Hunger
If there is enough food to feed the entire world, why don’t we use it to end world hunger? Many believe the answer to ending world hunger is producing more food, but this misconception derives from the belief that there is a global “food shortage” that results in 12 percent of the global population — more than 800 million people — suffering from malnutrition.

The truth is that there is too much food in too little places; impoverished communities on a local, national and global level simply do not have the access to a consistent food supply. Consider this: a third of food produced in the world is either lost or wasted, and this number equates to more than 1.3 billion tons of food each year. To put this in perspective, food waste in the United States and Europe alone could feed the entire world three times over.

In recent years, initiatives have been made to harness the power of conservation to end world hunger and have led to an increase in governmental participation. For example, just last year France unanimously passed legislation that requires supermarkets to donate unsold food of good quality to charity. Following France’s lead, Italy passed similar legislation, and the United Kingdom, Finland, Canada and Chile are also considering implementing such a policy.

Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

To encourage businesses to participate in this growing movement, the Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) has worked with American businesses to achieve “zero hunger.” Founded by Robert Lee, the organization has worked to transport food quickly and efficiently by lowering transportation costs though a strong and active volunteer base.

Since 2015, RLC has grown rapidly and works with large chains like Starbucks and Panera as well as local restaurants. Lee’s model, though quite simple, combines youth activism, increased technology and willingness from businesses to participate in his efforts.

Though Lee’s campaign is in only eleven cities in the U.S., his model can be used as example to end world hunger. Lee believes this and has said, “We’re eliminating hunger community by community,” he says. “Wherever there’s food waste, I want people to know there’s an alternative to throwing it out.”

Sustainable Food Systems

Eliminating food waste is the start of eliminating world hunger. National campaigns like those in France and Italy as well as local efforts like the RLC are making significant impacts in increasing access to food. Similar approaches like the creation of sustainable food systems that lower agricultural and manufacturable food wastes are also part of the effort. On a more individual level, raising awareness on the issue can help families be more conscious of how much food they’re wasting each day.

The combination of effective legislation, grassroots campaigns and scientific research are proving effective. Still, there are questions regarding the efficacy of this solution on a global scale. In short, how has decreased food waste helped resolve hunger in developing nations where 98% of undernourished people live?

Food Waste

Food waste is a global problem, and the United Nations estimates that around 40 percent of food produced is wasted in developing countries. The problem of food wastage can be attributed to a lack of advanced technology that lead to extreme losses of water and energy every year. To end world hunger, small farmers from poor countries must be supplied with adequate technology, and this empowerment can significantly increase crop yields.

Thankfully, efforts are already being made to accomplish just that. In India, for example, the Promethean Power Systems uses solar power during production to decrease energy waste. In Uganda, biogas is being used as a cooling system, and initiatives from the United States and other industrialized nations are already being implemented in developing countries. The CoolBot, for instance, has transformed post-harvest care, and unified efforts across the world are bringing technology where it is needed the most — thus making a huge difference.

The effort to reduce food waste has been promising, and world hunger has sharply declined in the past decade as a result. This has inspired efforts to not only lower world hunger, but to also eliminate the issue completely. By eliminating food waste, zero hunger is achievable.

– Liyu Woldemichael

Photo: Flickr

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How to End World Hunger in 10 Steps

How to end world hunger
Ending world hunger is far less complicated than most people assume. In a world where one in every nine people goes to bed hungry, how do governments and their respective societies ensure people have access to the nutrition they need? Many international organizations are leading the charge to end world hunger, setting manageable goals and creating guidelines to fight against poverty. The World Food Programme’s former executive director, Josette Sheeran outlined a straight-forward approach on how to end world hunger in 10 steps.

 

How to End World Hunger

 

  1. Humanitarian action is the first and most direct solution suggested by Sheeran. Spreading resources around the world has been the most popular form of fighting hunger and it continues to grow. According to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Initiative, international humanitarian assistance reached a record of $24.5 billion in aid in 2014.
  2. Providing school meals is an efficient way of supporting both nutrition and youth education in society. Schools are already a haven for youth in developing countries. Adding school meals ensures students stay in school longer and receive a better education.
  3. A social safety net can defend people from falling back into poverty when disaster endangers their ascent. Farmers and their laborers are especially vulnerable to changes in weather patterns and natural disasters, which can destroy their crop and their wealth in one fell swoop.
  4. Connecting small farmers to markets is an essential method of increasing the income of subsistence farmers in developing countries. CNN reports that there are 600 million small farmers and herders in the world. Initiatives such as fair trade products and companies have brought more income to these small farmers.
  5. Decrease infant mortality rates. The first 1,000 days represent the most important period in an infant’s life. During this critical period, the child must receive the necessary nutrition and care from its mother in order to ensure its survival. Improving the chance that children born in poverty receive this care is essential in fighting high child mortality rates and stunting.
  6. Empowering women would unlock a new pool of human capital in the fight against poverty and world hunger. Making political and economic opportunities available to the female population in a country only improves the social institutions of the nation.
  7. With the support of safety nets, a resilient population can resist the pressures of poverty-inducing crises like economic downturns and military conflicts. Preparation can be implemented at the community or governmental level, or however hunger prevention can be mobilized most efficiently.
  8. Bringing the technological development that has occurred in developed countries to their emerging peers can accelerate the development of entire nations. For instance, the output and efficiency of farmers can be augmented by the use of various agricultural technologies.
  9. The power of the individual in a community should not be underestimated by organizations looking to fight hunger. Mobilizing just a small group of people can yield huge results through technology and communication on the internet.
  10. Finally, there needs to be some sort of local leadership in the fight against world hunger. While organizations like the United Nations and the World Food Programme have taken charge on the international level, more local groups need to lead in individual communities if world hunger is to be truly eradicated.

The United Nations, UNICEF and The World Food Programme are just a few examples of groups that have brought widespread relief to nations around the globe.

– Jacob Hess

Photo: Flickr

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Project Angel Food Serves Nine Million Meals

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Project Angel Food, a philanthropic organization that cooks and serves nutritious meals to residents in Los Angeles who are battling critical illnesses, just celebrated serving nine million meals.

In addition to this accomplishment, the organization also celebrated its 25th anniversary. It was founded by Marianne Williamson in 1990 when the HIV/AIDS crisis came into the public eye.

Over the past 25 years, Project Angel Food has expanded to cook medically tailored meals for men and women who suffer from severe illnesses like cancer, renal failure, congestive heart failure and diabetes.

“It’s wonderful to participate in Project Angel Food’s 25th-anniversary celebration – to both remember what was, and help them usher in a new chapter in the life of the organization,” says Williamson.

Project Angel Food has done so well in recent years that they have partnered with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a charitable organization that harnesses the collective power of the entertainment industry to raise awareness and funds for critical health, educational and social issues, to help accomplish their goals and mission.

This partnership has enlisted the aid of celebrities such as Eva Mendes, Alanis Morissette and Jane Lynch to help support both the organization and its mission.

“For nearly two decades, the Entertainment Industry Foundation has been honored to support Project Angel Food in its mission to provide essential nourishment to those battling critical illnesses, including people living with cancer,” said EIF President and CEO Lisa Paulsen. “Many of EIF’s health initiatives over that same period have focused on advancing cancer research to improve how the disease is treated. Supporting Project Angel Food has always been a wonderful complement to those efforts, enabling EIF to positively impact more than just one facet of patients’ journeys.”

With the support of EIF, Project Angel Food will be able to continue providing meals to those people with critical illness and make their lives just a little bit better.

– Alysha Biemolt

Sources: Look to the Stars, Angel Food, Entertainment Industry Foundation
Photo: +Beryll

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3 Hunger Fighting Strategies

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Hunger is a persistent problem in communities worldwide. While poor nations face a disproportionate amount of hunger when compared to their wealthier cousins, rich nations are not themselves immune. As the world population continues to rise, hunger fighting strategies become a more urgent need in every country.

Fortunately, scientists, engineers and thinkers are responding with new solutions. Each of these hunger fighting strategies is far-reaching in its scope, but every one of them desires to be achievable, sustainable and profitable. Below are just three of the hunger fighting strategies being suggested as this century’s answer to hunger.

1. Farming Fish

In 2014, approximately half of the fish we consume is caught in the wild, whereas the other half is farmed in a practice called “aquaculture.” In the world’s rivers and oceans, over-fishing is a looming reality, and by 2030, the World Bank predicts that at least 62 percent of the fish we eat will come from aquaculture farms.

Aquaculture is a developing industry in parts of the globe, but with the right resources, fish farming could be an effective tool in fighting hunger in even the poorest places. Fish provide a high-quality source of protein, and when these fish are farmed rather than caught in the wild, that source is also replenishing.

The main goals of aquaculture are to be sustainable, environmentally-friendly and technologically advanced. On the most high-tech fish farms, video surveillance provides a solution to wastage, allowing farmers to better monitor over-feeding and dispense less feed per fish.

Sainsbury’s, a major chain of supermarkets in the U.K., has declared that all of the fish it sells will be produced via aquaculture by 2020. Other companies and countries are taking note.

2. Improving Rice

On May 28, in celebration of World Hunger Day, the web-based journal “GigaScience” announced that it plans to publish the first of the articles produced by the 3000 Rice Genomes Project.

The project, a collaborative mission by the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), aims to go public with the gene sequences of 3000 rice strains. Researchers and farmers alike can delight at this information which will do wonders in fighting hunger.

Sixteen poverty-stricken African and Asian countries have been named the intended beneficiaries of this project, though researchers worldwide will also be able to access the article. The 3000 gene sequences are compiled into 13.4 terabytes of information, all of which can be used in selective breeding programs.

Up until this time, breeders have had to rely on the outward characteristics of rice in order to make their selections. As a result, useless or counter-productive recessive traits — not outwardly visible but apparent in later generations — have slipped through the cracks. With the help of the 3000 Rice Genomes Project, scientists can select for very specific traits, including ones linked to drought resistance, higher yield and more. These improvements will mean more money for farmers and more food for families.

3. Exploring GMOs

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have developed a largely unfounded negative association. Produced by genetic engineering, GMOs are super-crops with high yields and great nutritional values. Most require fewer pesticides than their unmodified versions, and some may even require less water.

The stigma against GMOs developed largely in Europe, where Monsanto, an American company, tried to sell their modified product on European markets. Politicians responded with a terrific resistance to the GMOs, decrying them as “unsafe.” These claims were largely unsubstantiated.

As a result of decades-long campaigns against GMOs, Europeans have spread their fear to other parts of the world, including those most in need of the super-crops. Communities in Asia and Africa are already fighting hunger with the aid of GMOs, but too much pressure from anti-GMO campaigners may threaten their availability.

In order to end world hunger, GMOs must grow in popularity, not decline. Scientists are being called upon to prove the safety of genetically modified organisms, though the stigma against them may be hard to break.

With each of these three hunger fighting strategies, farmers, scientists and consumers can work to lessen world food shortages. With the help of all three, they could even put an end to hunger.

– Patricia Mackey

Sources: Boston Globe, CNBC, Science Codex
Photo: PSMAG

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3 Ways of Ending World Hunger

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Out of every eight people, one of them will go to sleep hungry tonight. Ending world hunger takes many different forms, including donations, volunteering and education. Those who suffer from chronic hunger are more likely to be affected when famine hits or when they fall ill. To alleviate chronic hunger and food insecurity, it is necessary to come up with sustainable solutions that empower small farmers, women and locals.

1. Target Food Producers
Focusing on small farming communities has been the focus of Heifer International for nearly 70 years. This organizations helps small farmers increase productivity in order to create a surplus that can be sold or provided to hungry people. Heifer was established on the philosophy, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

2. Connect Farmers to Markets
In Gulu, Uganda, small farmers can bring their corn to a warehouse built by the World Food Program, have it cleaned, dried and stored, and the farmers can then sell their cleaned corn for $400 a ton. Normally, these farmers would only be able to sell their corn for $100 a ton. The Purchase for Progress program links the WFP’s demand for food commodities with the expertise of partners to support smallholder farmers. By providing a market for smallholder farmers, Purchase for Progress has helped farmers increase crop quality and sales.

3. Empower Women
Women often have unequal access to resources, education and income, making them more susceptible to hunger than men. However, when resources are given to women, they use it more effectively than their male counterparts, ensuring that food gets to their children. In many countries, women make up the majority of farm laborers – in Africa, eight out of 10 people engaged in farming are women and in Asia, six out of 10 are women.

These three solutions to ending world hunger are part of a larger solution: improving production and access to food for the hungry. By helping smallholder farmers, connecting local farmers to each other and to the marketplace, and empowering women, progress can be made in terms of ending world hunger.

– Haley Sklut

Sources: CNN, Freedom From Hunger, Huffington Post
Photo: UN

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How Can Golden Rice Help End World Hunger

How Can Golden Rice Help End World HungerDr. Gerard Barry, project leader for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), is developing a type of genetically modified rice called “Golden Rice.” This rice contains the essential nutrient beta-carotene, the source of vitamin A, which is often lacking in the diets of people living in poverty. The GMO rice is referred to as “Golden” because beta-carotene produces an orange color once added to the rice. Dr. Barry and IRRI are working to address vitamin A deficiency in developing countries and hope that Golden Rice is the answer.

In an interview with National Public Radio, Dr. Barry spoke enthusiastically about engineering new types of rice pointing out that it is the staple food of a couple of billion people. His passion for the crop led to a career at IRRI and he quickly began working on Golden Rice which he explains has the potential to greatly benefit those living in impoverished conditions. IRRI hopes to distribute the GMO rice in Bangladesh and the Philippines, where the institute is located.

Vitamin A deficiency is a result of malnourishment and a limited diet. The consequences of this deficiency include tissue damage, blindness, and a weakened immune system. For those millions of people affected by vitamin A deficiency, one cup of Golden Rice a day could provide half the amount needed for a healthy diet. “This product has the potential to reduce the suffering of women and children and save lives,” said Dr. Barry. IRRI is working with nonprofit organizations to ensure the super rice reaches those who need it most. Once it has passed food and safety regulations, we will begin to see the real impact of Golden Rice.

– Mary Penn
Source: IrishCentral
Photo: Forbes

Knowledge is Power: Arab Spatial and Food Security in the Middle East

    Arab spatial
    A new tracking tool to measure levels of food security in the Middle East was launched in February. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) created the tool, known as Arab Spatial, with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

    The Middle East has long struggled with food security, and researchers, officials, and activists have had a difficult time addressing the problem due to a lack of information. Now, humanitarian aid workers and policymakers working to address food security issues in the region can turn to Arab Spatial for the most up-to-date information on malnutrition, rainfall, crop yields, and much more.

    Recent political upheaval has amplified food insecurity in the region. Many Middle Eastern countries depend on foreign imports of staples such as wheat flour. Political and social turmoil has disrupted commerce and economies, leading to lost jobs and even greater struggles for everyday people to put enough food on the table. Statistics on poverty in the Middle East are infrequent and often inaccurate; only about half of the countries provide public access to the numbers.

    But Arab Spatial will contribute to more open communication about how best to meet basic human needs in one of the least stable areas of the globe. Perrhian al-Riffai, a senior research analyst with IFPRI, said of Arab Spatial, “High quality and freely accessible knowledge is power, especially for evidence-based research for effective and efficient policy design and implementation throughout the Arab world.”

    Arab Spatial measures food security at the national, regional, and local level. More than 150 food security indicators, including information related to poverty, malnutrition, climate, crop production and prices, disease, and trade, can be used to create maps and data. This valuable information should give governments, NGOs, and non-profit organizations working to end food insecurity in the region more power to do so.

    – Kat Henrichs

    Source: IRN Middle East
    Photo: IRN