October 16 is observed as World Food Day to tackle global hunger and commemorate the establishment of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). But unfortunately, hunger still poses a significant economic burden, both on individuals and on national economies...
Who is hungry?
If reports are to go by, one in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night. Around the world, 795 million people do not have enough of the food they need to live an active, healthy life. People suffering from chronic hunger suffer from malnutrition, developmental disabilities and low productivity.
Interestingly, the highest number of malnourished people lives in Asia and the Pacific.
India’s condition, no better
The global hunger index report of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ranks India at 100 out of 119 countries
India’s rank of 100 is lower than even its poorer neighbours such as Nepal (72), Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (84) and Myanmar (77). China has a far higher rank of 29. In South Asia, only Pakistan is lower than India at 106
Why are they hungry?
According to a study, many hungry people live in countries with food surpluses, not food shortages. Lack of access to food supply is one of the causes of hunger nBesides, lack of infrastructure such as roads and storage facilities, frequent war, displacement, natural disaster, climate change, and chronic poverty are some of the causes of hunger. n Drought — as a result of climate change and unpredictable rainfall — is also responsible for hunger
Food wastage, a major worry
One third of the food produced in the world for human consumption — approximately 1.3 billion tons — gets lost or wasted, every year
Food losses and waste amounts to roughly $680 billion in industrialised countries and $310 billion in developing countries
Industrialised and developing countries dissipate roughly the same quantities of food — respectively 670 and 630 million tons
Fruits and vegetables, plus roots and tubers have the highest wastage rates of any food
How does hunger affect our lives?
Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Around nine million people die of hunger and hunger-related diseases every year. Poor nutrition is responsible for nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of five — about three million children die each year because their bodies don’t have enough of the basic nutrients they need to function and grow.
Meet the army who are fighting hunger in the subcontinent
A band of merry men and women called the Robin Hood Army (RHA) has been seeking to feed the poor by distributing surplus food from restaurants and weddings to the hungry in the subcontinent.
Its volunteers, mostly students and young working professionals, call themselves Robins. Dressed in green, they go out in the dark, pick up food and distribute it among the homeless and others. When India and Pakistan celebrated 70 years of independence, the RHA from the two nations joined hands to fight against a common enemy — hunger — and fed over 1.32 million people across 48 cities. nThe group was started in August 2014 with six Robins in Delhi who served about 150 people on their first night of food distribution. In three years, it now consists of 12,350 volunteers who have served over 34,36,531 people.
