{"id":21487,"date":"2020-07-25T22:20:10","date_gmt":"2020-07-25T22:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=21487"},"modified":"2020-07-28T22:24:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T22:24:19","slug":"to-reduce-world-hunger-governments-need-to-think-beyond-making-food-cheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/to-reduce-world-hunger-governments-need-to-think-beyond-making-food-cheap\/","title":{"rendered":"To reduce world hunger, governments need to think beyond making food cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Fakhri<\/a>, University of Oregon<\/a><\/em> and Ntina Tzouvala<\/a>, Australian National University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

According to a new United Nations report<\/a>, global rates of hunger and malnutrition are on the rise. The report estimates that in 2019, 690 million people \u2013 8.9% of the world\u2019s population \u2013 were undernourished. It predicts that this number will exceed 840 million by 2030. <\/p>\n

If you also include the number of people who the U.N. describes as food insecure, meaning that they have trouble getting access to food, over 2 billion people worldwide are in trouble. This includes people in wealthy, middle-income and low-income countries.<\/p>\n

The report further confirms that women are more likely to face moderate to severe food insecurity than men, and that little progress has been achieved on this front in the past several years. Overall, its findings warn that eradicating hunger by 2030 \u2013 one of the U.N.\u2018s main Sustainable Development Goals<\/a> \u2013 looks increasingly unlikely. <\/p>\n

COVID-19 has only made matters worse: The report estimates that the unfolding pandemic and its accompanying economic recession will push an additional 83 million to 132 million people into undernourishment. But based on our work serving as independent experts to the U.N. on hunger, access to food and malnutrition, under the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food<\/a>, it\u2019s clear to us that the virus is only accelerating existing trends. It is not driving the rising numbers of hungry and food-insecure people.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization\u2019s Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is a global reference for measuring food insecurity. SDG Indicator 2.1.2 measures progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030.<\/span>
\n FAO<\/a>, CC BY-ND<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How much should healthy food cost?<\/h2>\n

Experts have debated for years how best to measure hunger and malnutrition. In the past, the U.N. focused almost exclusively on calories \u2013 an approach that researchers and advocacy groups criticized as too narrow<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s report takes a more thoughtful approach that focuses on access to healthy diets. One thing it found is that when governments primarily focused on making sure people had enough calories, they did so by supporting large transnational corporations and by making fatty, sweet and highly-processed foods cheap and accessible.<\/p>\n

[Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter.<\/a>]<\/p>\n

This perspective raises some important issues about the global political economy of food. As the new report points out, people who live at the current global poverty level of US$1.90 per day cannot feasibly secure access to a healthy diet, even under the most optimistic scenarios. <\/p>\n

More broadly, the U.N. report addresses one of the longest-running debates in agriculture: What is a fair price for healthy food? <\/p>\n

One thing everyone agrees on is that a plant-heavy diet is best for human health and the planet. But if prices for fruits and vegetables are too low, then farmers can\u2019t make a living, and will grow something more lucrative or quit farming altogether. And costs eventually go up for consumers as the supply dwindles. Conversely, if the price is too high, then most people can\u2019t afford healthy food and will resort to eating whatever they can afford \u2013 often, cheap processed foods. <\/p>\n

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