Seeing the progress in today’s technology and agricultural growth, it is no surprise that we can adequately feed up to 10 billion people (more than the current world population). Then why is it that 690 million people remain hungry and malnourished?
The reason is simple: there is more food production than distribution. Due to a lack of sources and reliable mediums, food cannot reach the target people, the starving souls. There is also the matter of food wastage; more food is getting wasted than the amount consumed. Fresh goods quickly spend most of their time in transit without efficient and fast transportation. When food with a short shelf life expires while reaching its destination, it inevitably gets wasted. The lack of appropriate storage conditions also presents an ordeal, adding more to the food wastage concern.
The food resources might even suffice, but external factors such as political and socio-economic structures can hinder the effective distribution of food. Since these structures are driven by capitalistic values of ownership, weak safety measures, and misplaced priorities, they do not consider the human needs of survival.
Targeted improvements in the purchasing power of populations at constant risk of dying from famine must be targeted. If measures are taken to decrease the affordability gap, more people will not have to sleep on empty stomachs. In battling food scarcity issues, we must promote platforms encouraging such discussions to achieve viable solutions.