The Distribution of Foods as Solutions to End World Hunger

There Are World Hunger Solutions

If you watch television, you might see commercials with celebrities holding coins and telling you about how, “For only 50 cents a day, you could be feeding someone whose starving.” Commercials attempting to get people to donate money to organizations that aid with feeding people in need in other countries are pretty common, world hunger seems to be a never ending issue, no matter if you decided to give the 50 cents each day or how much foreign aid the United States gives. The Human Mosaic provides reasoning on why this problem is still happening, but there is a way to help reduce and eventually put world hunger to an end, despite what our text book says. World hunger affects millions in third world countries each year. There are solutions to world hunger, they just aren't quite being utilized.

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Over nine million people world wide die each year due to starvation or malnutrition. Even though some of these third world countries grow food and farm, according to The Human Mosaic, these countries don't grow enough food to feed their population and don't have enough money to import food for their population. And one can assume this is the reason we still see organizations basically begging for money. But with the United States providing over $469.2 million dollars to help a organization known as Global Aquiculture & Food Security program or GAFSP, it seems likely that the fact America is already helping is overlooked. This Organization provides help for over 60 countries in roughly 6 regions. And this is just one organization out of dozens who raise money or donate money to other countries. With all the financial support America is providing, you would think that this problem is diminishing, but yet, the number of people has increase over the last 20 years from 824 million to 870 million. (World Hunger.Org) So, us not giving enough help isn't the problem, but the problem lies to where the money is being spent.

In the United States, 40-50% of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten. That is a huge waste of fresh and nutritious food that people really need. We take food for granted when people are starving. A common question that comes to mind would be why don't we send some of that food to countries with areas of sufficient need? Well according to our book, “Even when major efforts are made to send food from wealthy countries to famine -stricken areas, the poor transportation infrastructure of Third World countries often prevents effective distribution.” (Human Mosaic, 275) I just find that to sound a lot like an excuse. We could putting some of the money donated towards building stable transportation to areas that desperately need it. If we put money towards this, it could take time but it would save lives. Its something that needs to be done so we can get the much needed food to these families. Five of the nine million people who die each year from starvation are children. These innocent kids shouldn't have to die as a result of no food.

Political and economical instability seems to be the reason for the current world hunger rates, claims The Human Mosaic. “Ultimately, international political economics, not global food shortages, causes hunger and starvation. International trade favors the farmers of wealthier countries through systems of government subsidies that make the prices of their agricultural exports artificially low.” (Human Mosaic, 276) I understand that small business farmers are struggling to compete with big international traders, but again there is a possible solution. We could take money to help these farmers expand their farms, and have the proper supplies to farm. According to Global Issues, “In some parts of Africa a quarter or more of the crops go bad before they can be eaten. More generally, high losses in developing nations are mainly due to a lack of technology and infrastructure as well as insect infestations, microbial growth, damage and high temperatures and humidity.” We should be directing money towards sending volunteers to countries and teach families how to farm, so they can provide food for themselves. We just have to start rerouting and mapping money in the right places.

The fact that people are starving and getting sick and dying from not having enough food, ultimately cost countries a serious amount of money that they don't have. The direct medical cost of hunger and malnutrition is estimated at $30 billion each year. (Global Issues, 2010) For a lot of these countries poverty is an issue. With people being sick and near death from being unable to provide their body with the nutrients and energy from food, it is impairing adults from working and earning money to buy food, or even children being able to learn. More importantly, weakening them and exposing them to disease, other serious illnesses and a lot of the time death.

We could be helping their government set up programs that helps with distribution of food. We’ve continuously handed these countries money, like millions after millions and we see that there is absolutely no progress being made, but there has to be a different solution. More people shouldn't have to die from starvation and malnutrition when there are options that can be attempted to save them. World hunger isn't something that can be temporarily fixed, but there needs to be a permanent solution to this massive issue. World hunger isn’t going to be solved in a day, or a few years. It's going to take a serious amount of time, but these possibilities I presented should be tried. I feel as if when were learning and reading about this, the reasoning behind this issue not being solved is just malarkey. The hunger that is happening in other countries is not something only the United States can fix. The leaders of these countries in need have to come forward and set a plan in motion to help their people, it's at a point where it is a serious matter between life and death. Solutions to reducing and eventually ending world hunger are out there.

Works Cited

1. "2013 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics."2013 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world %20hunger%20facts%202002.htm#What_are_the_causes_of_hunger>.
2. "Feed the Future Progress Report."lssuu. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://issuu.com/usaid/docs/feed_the_future_progress_report_201>.
3. "Frequently Asked Questions."Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.gafspfund.org/content/frequently-asked-questions>.
4. Shah, Anup . "Causes of Hunger are related to Poverty." Global Issues. N.p., 3 Oct. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.globalissues.Org/article/7/causes-of-hunger-are-related-to-poverty>

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