A hungry world

Amidst soaring inflation, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has recently revealed that 45 million people across 43 countries around the world are “marching towards the brink of starvation”. Food insecurity, famine and acute hunger have cast a dark shadow over a world already inflicted with conflicts, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation is alarmingly dire in conflict-ridden areas such as Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, etc while other underdeveloped countries are barely holding on by a thread.

All this has created a web of wicked problems out of sheer desperation and exploitation — parents are selling off their daughters for money, millions of children are being pulled out from schools, suicide rates have surged, petty crimes and robbery are on the rise, and thousands of people facing extreme challenges have resorted to eating leaves and insects. Millions do not know when they will get to eat a decent meal next. As resources deplete and inequalities rise, the monopoly of food and water remains with the rich. One must understand the global dynamics: the poor in poor countries do not even have access to clean drinking water, while the poor in rich countries find it difficult to afford it. The rich on the other hand have an abundance of basic resources and enjoy an endless supply including bottled water. The WFP has estimated that $7 billion are needed to thwart the hunger crisis. But how exactly do they plan to use it? Providing these vulnerable segments with a healthy diet can only last for so long due to limited funding and can only bring about temporary relief.

In order to even attempt to end the world hunger, one has to dig down deep into the root of the issue, which unfortunately is embedded in the capitalist economic system. Goods, services, ideas, information and even people have been transformed into commodities that can be used, exploited, and then thrown away. The only way to end the hunger crisis is to rethink the way food resources are assimilated and distributed. This must no longer revolve around wealth.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2021.

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