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Wed, 20 May 2009

Ten Things You Can Do to Fight World Hunger

From the The Nation, May 13, 2009 (This article appears in the June 1, 2009 edition of The Nation)

Our planet produces enough food to feed its more than 960 million undernourished people. The basic cause of global hunger is not underproduction; it is a production and distribution system that treats food as a commodity rather than a human right.

In developing countries huge agribusinesses, fat with government subsidies, sell their unsustainable (and sometimes genetically modified) products at a reduced rate, thus making it impossible for local farmers to compete. Farmers who can't compete can't feed their own families or work their own fields. Hunger becomes both the cause and effect of poverty.

Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service, says sending food aid is not a sustainable way to end hunger. Rather, people must be empowered to raise their own food.

She proposes Ten Things we can do to help solve the world's growing hunger problem.

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