TOP 5 REASONS FOR HUNGER & POVERTY

We are about to celebrate world food day and the major purpose of this day is to ensure the availability of the food for each individual in the world. The entire world & Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) are trying to ensure the availability of food but still, a million peoples across the world have no access to food.

There are numerous reasons behind hunger & poverty and here we list down top 5 reasons behind hunger & poverty.

POVERTY

Among the top 5 reasons behind hunger & poverty, poverty itself is the prime reason behind hunger in the world. People living in poverty can’t afford healthy food leading to undernourishment or malnutrition. Poverty & hunger go together and if you are a part of a poor family, it means getting food every day is not that much easy.

If we talk about the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo is the poorest country in the world. The population of Congo is roughly 80 million out of which the majority of them live below 1.25$ per day.

FOOD SHORTAGES

The 2nd reason among the top 5 reasons for poverty & hunger are the shortages of Food. There are several factors responsible for the food shortages and here in this post, we have added a few factors after doing detailed research over the internet.

1. We all are aware of the fact that the population of the world is increasing continuously while the yielding capacity of the fields is shrinking day by day. The gap between the population increase and production decrease are becoming wider day by day and hence it has become next to impossible to arrange food for all.

2. The largest group of people in the world in extreme poverty are smallholder farmers in developing countries.  They do not have the land to grow enough food to supply themselves with enough to eat year-round, and they earn so little income from what they sell that they cannot afford to purchase food from other sources once their supply runs out.

3. The farmers employed in agriculture are also decreasing day by day due to less income. The costs incurred in producing crops are increasing day by day while the production is not increasing that much to compensate for that additional cost. Subsequent to this, farmers have to face flood & drought very often due to climate change affects production as well.

4. If we are talking about food shortages then it is necessary to talk about Africa as well. There are certain places in Africa where families have to endure a period where they do not have enough food to eat. This period is called “hungry seasons” and it is the time in between the year when there is a gap in the food supplies between the two harvests. This situation forces the families to skip one meal of the day.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate plays a very major role in crop production and the output crop production is affected due to continuous change in climate as well. The entire world is suffering from this climate change. Certain parts of the world experience heavy rainfall while other parts of the world experience less rain, some parts of the world experience flood while some other parts of the world experience drought. These fluctuations are made worse by the El Niño weather system and are likely to increase due to changes in climate. 

It is the greatest environmental challenge the world has ever faced and if it is continuous, it is close to impossible to feed all the population of the world. With references to the estimates published by the World Bank, these extreme weather conditions have the power to push more than 100 million people into poverty over the next decade.  This is the 3rd factor among the top 5 reasons for poverty & hunger.

FOOD WASTAGE

The wastage of food is another factor in the list of top 5 reasons for hunger and poverty and we should consider food wastage as a crime and there should be a pledge from ourselves to stop food wastage. We need to understand that a million peoples around the world don’t have access to have meals two times a day and if we have food in excess, then give it to the needy persons instead of throwing it to the garbage.

UNEMPLOYMENT OR JOB UNCERTAINTY

Unemployment or Job Uncertainty is also a very vital aspect accountable for poverty & hunger.  Several factors like market conditions, economy, etc. are accountable behind job creation and if the condition of the market or economy is not well, then there will fewer jobs in the market. As defined in the first point, hunger is mainly caused by poverty and poverty occurs if there are no jobs or very fewer jobs in the market.

 FLUCTUATION IN THE FOOD PRICES

Fluctuation in the food prices are somehow also responsible for a higher rate of hunger & poverty. Individuals having low income are mainly dependent upon basic grains such as wheat, rice, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, etc. largest share of calories. Any fluctuations that push the food prices upwards require additional hardship from low-income group families or families that starts skipping one meal of the day.

The other factors responsible for poverty & hunger are war & conflict, poor nutrition, poor public policy, lack of infrastructure, unstable economy, gender inequality and many more.

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