GLOBAL ESSAY

College of Western Idaho

World Hunger

A Growing Epidemic

Ron Zechmann

290373

English 102 034W

Leslie Jewkes

May 1, 2011

Ron Zechmann

Global Issue Essay

English 102 034W

April 17, 2011

Global Issue Essay

            Looking at the many problems that people face in the world today, the most damaging is starvation and hunger with the youth of the world and in the United States. The most important thing that needs to be addressed within the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is eradicating hunger and starvation in the world. With the help of the European Union (EU) this can be done in a timely manner.

            “The European Union (EU) strongly supports the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, and notably the first MDG, which aims to eradicate poverty and hunger. An immediate target is the halving of the proportion of people suffering from hunger between 1990 and 2015”. This will show how not only the U.S. but the EU is involved with MDG to lower the poverty rate in the world (Anonymous, Foreign Policy).

The most effective way of lowering the poverty rate and in turn that will lower the starvation and hunger rate as well is to focus on agricultural development. The most effective way to have a significant change with agriculture is to educate, train, and assist the people in the target area.

            The most important step is to educate the farmers of the target areas in improving their farming techniques and to reduce greenhouse gasses that are emitted into the atmosphere.

“By climate smart, we mean agriculture that sustainably increases productivity and resilience to environmental pressures, while at the same time reduces greenhouse gas emissions or removes them from the atmosphere, because we cannot ignore the fact that agriculture is itself a large emitter of greenhouse gases” (Anonymous, Western Farm Press).

 This is a step on how smarter agriculture can reduce greenhouse gasses and be beneficial to producing more food so solve world hunger. This is so very important in solving this global epidemic, plus it reduces pollutants that would normally go into the air.

            Educating farmers on more efficient and better ways to farm is very important, but education doesn’t mean anything without the next step and that is to actually train them to be successful in the new methods.

“The battle against global hunger vulnerability is winnable today, more than ever before. An important step toward ending hunger is empowering farmers in the developing world to contribute further to local and regional food needs. Initiatives like Sierra Leone's Operation Feed the Nation are training subsistence farmers to increase crop yields” (Josette Sheeran).

 By training the farmers of the new methods that they were taught will take what they have learned, and put it to use. The idea is to make the farmers actually apply it to their fields to yield a better crop, which in turn will provide a better way of life nutritionally and it will increase their income as well.

                The final step is to assist the farmers with the new techniques. Education is only a part and that combined with applying what they are taught there has to be assistance to help the farmers have the necessary resources they will need to be successful. There has to be an active role in this globally not just locally. The following chart and map show that the epidemic is rising and it will not change until society bands together to make a change.

            Looking at the chart it clearly shows that the Sub-Saharan region is second in the world with 180 million people that are undernourished, this clearly shows the need for global involvement in curing this disease. The following map puts it into a better visual by looking at the countries individually.

            Finally, after looking at the chart and map of the affected millions that are in desperate need of some form of relief to eradicate the starving and hungry in the world needs to be addressed and corrected. By improving farming techniques and educating the farmers in these regions especially the Sub-Saharan region “we” as a world unit can make a difference by allowing a better way of life, and providing a means to a solution that has plagued these regions for centuries. We need to remember that with improved farming techniques, training, and providing assessable resources, the eradication of world hunger and starvation can be a reality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonymous. Foreign Policy. Washington: Mar/Apr 2010. , Iss. 178; pg. A5, 1 pgs.

Anonymous. Western Farm Press. Clarksdale: Dec 9, 2010.

Josette Sheeran. The Washington Quarterly. Washington: Apr 2010. Vol. 33, Iss. 2; pg. 3.

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Facing the Future.org. 1999.

2009 World Hunger Map. Info.k4health.org. 2009.