If there is one crisis that can be solved within the next century or two, may it be world hunger. As True Activist has reported before, at present 1/3 of the food produced in this world is wasted, even with 795 million people (or 1/9 of the world’s population) going to bed hungry every night.
But even though countries like France are implementing astonishing initiatives, like making it illegal for stores to purposefully waste food, Bangladesh is leading the world having cut its rate of hunger by 50% since 2000.
According to a United Nations report, there are 216 million fewer hungry individuals in the world today than there were in the 1990’s. There are also nearly 100 million fewer in just the past three years. Bangladesh is one city majority contributing to the alleviation of this crisis, as it has reduced its chronic hunger rate by 50% since 2000.
The South Asian country may once have been impoverished, but it is now a self-sufficient rice producer focused on small-farm mechanization, irrigation, and boosting women’s economic power and girl’s education.
As CS Monitor reports, of 129 countries monitored, 72 have cut their undernourishment rates in half, on target with the 2015 Millennium Development Goal set by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
“Bangladesh is one of three success stories of the last 10 to 15 years – Ethiopia and Nepal are the other two – that give us some hope on this goal,” Professor Glenn Denning of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs told the CS Monitor.
“These kinds of successes have demonstrated that if you bring certain things together” – he lists economic growth, improved agricultural productivity, a focus on farmers’ market accessibility, and social safety nets for the most vulnerable – “you can bring hunger down.”
Bangladesh’s example is hope for the rest of the world. By empowering communities to become self-sufficient and support local production, potential to eradicate this crisis is possible.
“The near achievement of the hunger target shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime,” said FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva.
Read more at CS.Monitor, and don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section.
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