Bernardo Kliksberg (*)
Hunger kills and makes people sick
The 2024 annual report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO), indicates that 1 in 11 people in the world currently suffer from hunger.
Hunger means lack of the most important defenses to face extremely serious problems such as epidemics, malnutrition in its different forms, the formation of basic physical abilities, the development of the brain, the neuronal system. It is considered that, if a child up to the age of 3 is not adequately nourished, his or her chances of early death from acute illnesses are very high.
According to FAO, hunger increased by 150 million people in the year 23, and is reaching 800 million affected. The UN has approved the global sustainable development goals 2015-2030 program, whose number 1 goal is zero hunger. It is impossible for that goal to be reached, and the forecasts are that there will be no less than 600 million hungry by that date.
The number of hungry children in Africa is 1 in 5, for children under 5 years of age it is 1 in 4. 20% of African children are severely affected by the worst of the diseases. In Asia 8% of the total population suffers from hunger. On both continents, several countries experience famines for prolonged periods. The Nobel Prize winner in economics, Amartya Sen, has written extensively about them. As a child, he says, he lived among many other children who died from this plague. Hunger explains the FAO reports and the fundamental works of the Nobel Prize, it is not a fatality, it is not a product of the lack of food, it is a product of the difficulty of accessing it for the poorest. Food is currently produced that could supply 12 billion people. There are 8 thousand. 11% suffer from total hunger. Another 2800 billion suffer from silent malnutrition. They eat badly. They eat junk foods that fill them up, but do not give them the proteins and calories they would need.
The issue of inequalities underlies the issue of hunger. 3 thousand very rich have more than 51% of the planet's population.
The climate crisis aggravates the problem by destroying traditional peasant economies.
Can You Fight Hunger?
The FAO demonstrates that yes, it has taken as a model the Zero Hunger Program of Brazil, generated during the presidencies of Lula Da Silva, and based on improving the living conditions of small farmers, and has achieved results.
Currently, the presidency of the 20 countries with the most economic potential in the world has been assigned again to Lula, and he has launched an international alliance against poverty and hunger, which he plans to extend to all developing countries. The analyzes of the FAO and the High Food Security Panel that accompanies them are some of the instruments that will be applied together with the advanced studies on inequality that are being carried out in the European Union.
The Teachings of Israel
Israel has been a very effective collaborator in multiplying agricultural productivity in Africa, and Latin America.
Despite being a desert country, it managed to save every drop of water and by combining pioneering, cooperativism, and ultra-advanced techniques that ranged from sprinkler irrigation to the current widespread application of artificial intelligence technology, it turned the country into a green orchard. . He disseminated his findings through countless cooperation programs to developing countries. Among other fields, it is a world leader in tree planting, and high quality of the food it produces.
Latin America
According to the FAO progress report, Latin America has prospects in this field due to its exceptional food wealth and because there are countries that have undertaken vigorous policies to protect and help the economy of small farmers. They are producing results in several of them. Like Mexico, one of the largest economies, like the same Brazil mentioned, like Costa Rica, Uruguay, and others.
The Report reviewed opens up new hope for reducing poverty and this terrible enemy, hunger. It is required that efforts be presided over by ethics and solidarity.
(*) Advisor to various international organizations. Doctor Honoris Causa from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His new work “Where is social responsibility going in the world” appeared (2024, Council of the Judiciary of the City of Buenos Aires). [email protected]