World Hunger And The Possible Solutions

We should address the issue of world hunger through a national approach to find better-suited solutions for different places. While some people may argue that a global approach would be more effective to have countries working together to solve this problem, I believe that a national approach would be more beneficial to help specific areas. World Vision states that “Globally, about 8.9% of the world’s population — 690 million people — go to bed on an empty stomach each night. Since 2014, the number of people affected by hunger has been slowly on the rise. If it continues at this rate, it’ll exceed 840 million by 2030.” These numbers are staggering, but many people still turn a blind eye to it. The people that turn their backs on this problem are the people that are making it worse. By not recognizing the issue, the problem will never be solved. Though this is a problem all throughout the world, there can not just be one solution that will work for everybody, so focusing on different answers through a national approach and coming up with new ways to combat this issue is vital to the lives of so many.

The first approach I would take would be for a specific area is urban farming. The term urban farming is known as the process of creating space in a city or urban area to make crops and create a new food source for the citizens. Many of the people that are undernourished live in cities and urban places. With urban farming, people could have access to their own food without spending the money that they normally would have. This could help solve so many problems in very densely populated areas. Urban farming would also be a way to make money if people so decided to sell their crops. This is an idea that is definitely difficult to accomplish because of the existing infrastructure, however, it is going to be very important in making the world hunger free, and although it would be a challenge, it is something that is extremely necessary. Urban farming would be more beneficial to approach on a national scale. Attacking this from a national scale would provide more opportunity to focus more attention on one area at a time. Doing this is crucial because urban farming takes a lot of planning and effort and this can not be done if it is not given one hundred percent effort. People may argue that taking a global approach would be better because it would ensure more urban farming globally, however, I disagree with this method. The reason that I am against this is because specific details would be skipped. The job would get done, however, it would not be a “job well done” per se. My argument is that if you are going to do it, might as well do it right.

The next idea to help prevent world hunger would be expanding access to education. This is something that is obviously easier said than done, however broadening access to education would make a massive impact for many people. The first reason why this would be advantageous is that it would raise the probability of being successful in life and having the knowledge and recourses to do better things. Not only would education quite frankly, make you more educated, but it would also create many other opportunities for meal plans for kids. Children having the opportunity to have 3 meals a day paid for would alleviate a lot of stress for their guardians. Places that do not have a high education rate tend to have the most poverty, therefore, leading to starvation. This is a crucial step that will only help society. I would prefer to do this with a national approach for two reasons. The first reason is that education is so different in many places that it would be extremely difficult to come up with one way to expand education for so many different areas. A global approach might argue that expanding education will be beneficial everywhere, which I agree with, however, it is the process of expanding education that needs to be more specified. For example, in America, there are areas that have lower and higher incomes. The lower income places are typically where education needs to be expanded and improved. Although they are classified as a group of “lower income” it doesn't mean they will have the same solutions. One area might need more schools in general. One area might have more of an emphasis on making sure kids are going to school and not skipping. There are so many different solutions and ways to attack the problem that having one general answer for the whole world simply will not work.

Lastly, we must stop increasing the amount of food waste. Some countries are already doing a good job at this. For example, France is taking a stand against food waste and is considered the best country at dealing with this issue. An article by Global Citizen states that Frace is the “first country to ban edible food waste” and “farmers are adapting to climate change”, and the government is “promoting the growth of forests.” These are things that other places need to take into consideration. Reducing food waste does not have to be an effort of the whole country either. It can start with one person. Not getting too much food, not buying food that isn’t environmentally sustainable, being aware of what you are throwing away are all things that could make a massive difference in the topic of world hunger. Some may argue a global approach for reducing food waste, but as I have mentioned before, there cannot be one answer for everybody. France seems to already have a good system working for them, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for everyone. For America, maybe it needs to be a law to limit the amount of food thrown out every day to ensure that food is being made just to go right in the trash.

In conclusion, world hunger is something that needs to be the number one priority. Taking a national approach to this problem will be beneficial for this process to make it go smoother. There will not be just one answer that will solve the problem. Different countries will have different solutions that work for them, and everybody can learn from each other. The UN Chronicle states that there are 25,000 people every day that die from starvation. These numbers should be alarming to everyone and we must make a change right now. There are so many people that will turn their back on this issue because it does not affect them directly. However, soon they will realize that it does. If every 1 out of 9 people is dying from starvation due to poverty we need to look at the long lasting impacts. Children’s growth will be stunted and it will affect their health for the rest of their life. That is just one example, and there are so many more. There are organizations like Act Against Hunger and Feeding America that are working to provide any money they can to help this major problem go away but there are also little things that each person could do that would help more than you could ever understand. I hope that people wake up to this issue soon and start making changes.

Works Cited

“France Continues to Lead the World in Ending Food Waste.” Global Citizen, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/food-waste-sustainability-agriculture-ranking/.

“Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day.” United Nations, United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/losing-25000-hunger-every-day.

Reid, Kathryn. “5 World Hunger Facts You Need to Know.” World Vision, 29 Oct. 2020, https://www.worldvision.org/hunger-news-stories/world-hunger-facts#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20are%20hungry,exceed%20840%20million%20by%202030.