Food Insecurity: Global and National Perspectives

India, a country with more than 1.37 billion people and nominally the 5th largest economy in the world
(Forbes India, 2023), still is the 111th most hungry nation in the world at 28.7 in GHI (Global Hunger
Index, 2023). One of the ways India can solve its food insecurity problem is to increase efficiency of food
production. Programs like Zero Hunger Programme or National Food Security Mission have already been
launched, working with communities and farmers to increase food production efficiency and ensure food
access year-round (Destiny Jackson, 2021). Instead of wasting food due to spoilage and unproductive
farming, the food could be used to ensure children and adults get the food and nutrients they need,
increasing labor productivity and decreasing healthcare burdens for the Indian people. These programs
could help massively with food insecurity in India. However, to solve food insecurity around the world,
we need to have a global perspective.

According to the UN (n.d), about 2.68 billion people, 1/3 of the entire world’s population, face moderate
to severe food insecurity. One of the ways we as a species can solve climate change is to build food
assets (like making land arable again, planting forests, etc.). Programs like The World Bank and the World
Food Programme work with communities in more than 50 countries to address immediate food needs
through cash/food transfers while also helping to revitalize land, plant forests and build irrigation
systems for the people there (n.d, UN). Instead of wasting food-arable lands and causing hunger at large
due to external factors like climate change and internal factors like weak governments, we could help
these areas be self-sufficient again and help the world be more developed in economy, health, education
and socially more developed as well (n.d, UN). Overall, food insecurity can be solved by international and
national programs that help increase the efficiency of food production and shift the people’s diet to
healthier alternatives, but it will need massive national and international efforts to reach the No Hunger
goal by 2030.

References:

A.L Srivastava and more…, Oct 28, 2023, India, Britannica. (https://www.britannica.com/facts/India)

No specified author, Oct 16, 2023, Top 10 Largest Economies in the World, Forbes India.
(https://www.forbesindia.com/article/explainers/top-10-largest-economies-in-the-world/86159/1)

No specified author, 2023, India, Global Hunger Index. (https://www.globalhungerindex.org/)

Destiny Jackson, Dec 15, 2021, 5 Hunger Fighting Initiatives in India, The Borgen Project.
(https://borgenproject.org/hunger-fighting-initiatives-in-india/)

2023, Worldometer. (https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/#:~:text=2023%20World

%20Population,the%20world%20population%20was%207%2C909%2C295%2C151.)

n.d, Goal 2: Zero Hunger, UN. (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/)

n.d, Global Issues: Food, UN. (https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/food)