A major independent survey reports that the best way to end global hunger may be to help small farmers, especially as they try to adapt to the changing climate. According to 98 Caritas organizations, the top three causes of food insecurity are lack of resources—land, seeds, loans, access to markets—for small farmers, low agricultural productivity and the impact of climate change. “The findings of this survey are a window into the struggles of impoverished small farmers, especially those in the developing world,” said Michel Roy, secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, the Rome-based umbrella group of national Caritas organizations. Just 19 percent of Caritas respondents said that their countries enjoyed full food security, defined as reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. Almost a third said their countries faced food insecurity, and almost half said their countries were only somewhat secure in their food resources. The results of food insecurity were not just hunger and malnutrition but also migration, income disparity and crime.
End Hunger? Help Farmers
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
There are so many things you can enjoy when you are poor—and some, it seems, that are easier to enjoy when you’re poor because you cannot lean on the crutches and the shortcuts that litter the path of the rich.
Gene Roddenberry’s son said his father was an atheist. But documented evidence tells a different, more nuanced story about the creator of “Star Trek.”
At the Vatican on Saturday, Pope Leo urged “reason and responsibility” amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran—just hours before lighting up the jumbotron at Chicago’s Rate Field, calling 30,000 faithful to be “beacons of hope.”
As I write, Mr. Trump is declaring that “nobody knows” what he is going to do about Iran. I fear that “nobody” includes him.