Food Security and Modern Agriculture
820 million people will go to bed hungry tonight, and 2 billion more don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
Being hungry impacts everything in those people’s lives. When they can’t cover this basic need, families struggle to find a way out of poverty. It’s harder to take advantage of economic opportunities or get involved in community actions. Kids who are hungry don’t do as well in school — if they are able to go at all. Babies who don’t get the right nutrition early in life may never reach their full potential as adults.
Not only are these numbers unacceptable — globally, they’re getting worse. Over the last three years, conflict and climate change have caused food insecurity to increase every year. Farmers struggle to grow the food they need to grow food for themselves, and to sell into markets for others to eat.
- Today, nearly 400 million children of primary school age cannot read or write
- More than half of all three to six year olds have no access to pre-primary education
- About 10 million refugee children risk having their learning interrupted after being forced to flee their homes
- 25 million children will never enrol in school – and two-thirds of them are girls.
Without a quality basic education, children are less likely to escape the cycle of poverty and may never have the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
Supporting small-scale farmers and workers
Investment in small-scale farming – particularly women farmers – is a proven success in many countries. It can help produce enough to feed a growing population and reduce poverty. We work to make small farms more productive by helping local producers with sustainable techniques, by supporting them to work together in cooperatives and producer organizations, and to advocate to their governments for the investment they need. We also campaign for the right to dignified work in food value chains.
Food Security Facts
- Micronutrient deficiency affects 2 billion people making them susceptible to long-term, irreversible health effects, as well as having damaging socio-economic consequences.
- If women farmers had the same access to productive resources as men, it could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by up to 17% due to increased crop yields.
- After years of progress, for the fourth year in a row, there has been a rise in world hunger. There are nearly 60 million more undernourished people now than in 2014. If this trend continues, the number of undernourished people will exceed 840 million by 2030.