Hungry? You're not alone...

[Che Guava]

According to the UN, over 800 000 000 are going hungry...

World hunger 'intolerable,' with scant progress in decade: UN

CBC News

Global leaders have made little progress on a 10-year-old plan to combat world hunger, with an estimated 820 million people still going hungry, a UN report warned Monday.

To meet the goal, the number of undernourished people in the world would have had to decrease by about 31 million every year until 2015 — but instead, it has climbed, says the report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

'Far from decreasing, the number of hungry people in the world is currently increasing at the rate of four million a year.'

"Today, I am deeply sorry to report that the situation remains intolerable and unacceptable, all the more so because 10 years have passed."

The report said the leaders of 185 countries pledged at the World Food Summit in 1996 to cut the number of people going hungry by half by 2015. They reaffirmed that aim in the Millennium Development Goals, a series of targets set by the UN in 2000.

"Business as usual will not do," Diouf wrote in the report, entitled The State of Food Insecurity in the World, as he urged the world to do more to tackle the problem.

Diouf said solutions exist to the problem of world hunger, including:

*Bringing an end to international conflicts.
*Promoting economic growth.
*Ensuring that access to food is not blocked or disrupted by wars.
*Encouraging rural development.

"We are confident that the race against hunger can still be won, but only if the necessary resources, political will and correct policies are forthcoming," Diouf wrote in the report's foreword.

'We are confident that the race against hunger can still be won, but only if the necessary resources, political will and correct policies are forthcoming.'

"A twin-track approach, emphasizing direct action against hunger along with a focus on agricultural and rural development, is effective in providing the most vulnerable and food-insecure people with new livelihood possibilities and hope for a better life," Diouf wrote in the report.

The report, which is produced annually by the FAO, was not all bad news, despite painting a bleak picture of hunger around the world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where "the task facing the region remains daunting" and there are 206 million people undernourished.

The report said population increases mean the number of people going hungry in the developing world declined to 17 per cent in the period 2001-2003, compared with 20 per cent in the period 1990-1992.

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a drop in numbers, with the population of undernourished people decreasing to 32 per cent from 35 per cent of the population.

The drop was felt mostly in countries in East, West and Southern Africa, although countries in central Africa, including Congo, experienced an increase, with the percentage of hungry people rising from 36 per cent to 56 per cent.
The number of such people has also dropped in Asia and Latin America and such densely populated countries as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil have recorded a decline, according to the report.

Asia's 'most serious' decline? N. Korea

But the decreases are not enough for the world to reach the 2015 goal because other countries are not faring as well, it said.

In Asia, the problem of undernourishment is acute in North Korea, which the report said has "the most serious deterioration in food security" in that continent.

The population of hungry people there grew from 3.6 million in 1990-1992 to 7.9 million in 2001-2003.

link

So here's your chance to save the world, folks: what's your idea to reduce world hunger?

 

[skadistic]

Let the starving die out its plain to see the world can't hold that large of a population.

Or remove the despots in charge that starve their people and maybe teach people how to grow their own food.

 

[Che Guava]

THere's more than enough place on earth to grow the food required for the earth's population, and from what I gather, its not the depots that are holding back the food, its areas that have no rule of law that don't have the stability or infrastructure to feed themselves.

 

[Left]

Let the starving die out its plain to see the world can't hold that large of a population.

Says man who isn't starving.


Food production isn't that problem.

 

[skadistic]

THere's more than enough place on earth to grow the food required for the earth's population, and from what I gather, its not the depots that are holding back the food, its areas that have no rule of law that don't have the stability or infrastructure to feed themselves.

From the artical I gather that all kinds of reasons are to blame. NK has a despot in charge Darfur in the midst of genoside some parts of Africa are taking farms from white farmers and giving the land to the blacks who have no idea how to far some nations wont accept grain thats GM. Teaching people how to farm is the key but good luck with that. Tonnes of aid food spoils in some harbours because no one will pay warlords to get it to those who need it. With so many diffrent reasons and sollutions I don't see the number being reduced anytime soo.

 

[Che Guava]

From the artical I gather that all kinds of reasons are to blame. NK has a despot in charge Darfur in the midst of genoside some parts of Africa are taking farms from white farmers and giving the land to the blacks who have no idea how to far some nations wont accept grain thats GM. Teaching people how to farm is the key but good luck with that. Tonnes of aid food spoils in some harbours because no one will pay warlords to get it to those who need it. With so many diffrent reasons and sollutions I don't see the number being reduced anytime soo.

So are you retracting your "let 'em die" policy?

Stability and infrastructure seem to be the common themes in the problems you've listed. With the exception of Zimbabwe, I would have to say that most of the farmers of the world do kow how to farm pretty well, and as for the GM grain...I can understnad not wanting to seed with them, but not wanting to eat them? oy...

 

[JollyRoger]

Or remove the despots in charge that starve their people and maybe teach people how to grow their own food.

Or how about removing the democracies that pay their farmers to grow less food?

 

[Xanikk999]

Or how about removing the democracies that pay their farmers to grow less food?

Thats so we dont have a decentralized farming economy, which is a very bad thing.

But considering private companies are growing food nowadays it shouldnt be a big concern.

 

[Che Guava]

Are you referring to countries in western europe and the US?

 

[JollyRoger]

Are you referring to countries in western europe and the US?

I'm referring to the U.S. which subsidizes farmers (family farmer and corporate farmer alike) to not grow food.

 

[Xanikk999]

I'm referring to the U.S. which subsidizes farmers (family farmer and corporate farmer alike) to not grow food.

I think thats so we actually have the right amount of certain products.

How would you like it if everyone grew a couple big cash crops and there was a shortage of a lot of low profit but very useful crops?

 

[theimmortal1]

I'm goign to eat lunch right now

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

It is agriculturally impossible to provide enough food for everyone on the planet to eat as well as the average American. If I remember correctly from several of my Ag classes, it would take approximately 7 earths to feed everyone to that level with current production methods.

And the total number of people going hungry is only going to grow, along with the world population.

 

[Urederra]

Let the starving die out its plain to see the world can't hold that large of a population.

Don't agree at all.

Or remove the despots in charge that starve their people and maybe teach people how to grow their own food.

Here you go, You nailed it.

 

[Rik Meleet]

According to the UN, over 800 000 000 are going hungry...
So here's your chance to save the world, folks: what's your idea to reduce world hunger?

Let them eat cake.

Not my opinion - just historically accurate​

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Says man who isn't starving.


Food production isn't that problem.

Yes, actually food prodution is the problem. Read my previous post. I shall attempt to confer with that teacher (kind of hard, as he is a high school teacher).
Since finding a site that has this is nearly impossible, I shall post this, which does generally portray both sides of the spectrum, from the unrealistic "we can effectively feed a few billion more" to the harsh "we bypassed our max capacity so fast it was just a blur".

I honestly believe that we must implement a triage system with regards to food distribution.

Nations with surplus.
Nations that can survive with help.
Nations that will die even with the best help out there.

Nations with the surpluses help those that are borderline, and send whats left to the unsaveable nations. Help those that can be, but if you can't save them, why try to?

It's incredibly harsh, but unfortunately one of the choices we have.

There's also the Life Boat Theory on dealing with it.
Same thing, those in the boats save those (in the water) that can be saved, but if you try to save them all, you'll be swamped and die as well (all the people climbing in your boat, overwhelming the capacity, dooming you as well).

Let the starving die out its plain to see the world can't hold that large of a population.

This is one of the unfortunate truths of Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. How is being more technologically or fiscally fit tie into this you ask? It doesn't directly, it merely makes it easier for us to survive than it would be for those that are lacking in those areas.

I don't like it anymore than anyone else does, but it is a reality in this world.

 

[Masquerouge]

http://www.nathansfamous.com/nathans/contest/hot_dog_contest_2005_results.php

How many could you feed with Kobayashi's record?

 

[Yoda Power]

Let the starving die out its plain to see the world can't hold that large of a population.

Oh like the Brits did in Ireland during the great famine. Yeah that was really a good move on their side. In the end it created more problems than it solved (which was none).

 

[skadistic]

Oh like the Brits did in Ireland during the great famine. Yeah that was really a good move on their side. In the end it created more problems than it solved (which was none).

There was plenty of food in Ireland durring the potato famine but the english took most of it to feed them selves lavishly while porpously killing off the Irish.

http://www.nathansfamous.com/nathans/contest/hot_dog_contest_2005_results.php

How many could you feed with Kobayashi's record?

He wins all those things just this weekend he ate 90 Krystals hamburgers in like 5 minutes.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Oh like the Brits did in Ireland during the great famine. Yeah that was really a good move on their side. In the end it created more problems than it solved (which was none).

Obviously, even from a math standpoint. 0<1. Zero solutions is less than one problem.

If you don't do anything to generate a solution, you're already outnumbered by the original problem.

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Oops! Forgot to attach the link for my above post. Here it is:
http://soils.usda.gov/use/worldsoils/papers/pop-support-paper.html