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Climate change, conflict and the failure of governments to tackle them have left more than 800 million people living with hunger around the world.

When hunger strikes, women are more likely to be affected. But women also have the power to overcome hunger and provide food for their families and communities. Women make up on average 43 percent of this agricultural labor in developing countries. In South Asia, more than two thirds of employed women work in agriculture. In eastern Africa, over half of farmers are women.
They're growing the food - but they're often not getting the resources they need to really put an end to hunger.
Women farmers produce 20 to 30 percent less than men farmers because they face two compounding layers of exclusion - as smallholder farmers and as women. Equalizing this gap could boost agricultural output and decrease global hunger by 17 percent.

Today for #WorldFoodDay we're showcasing four women who are leading the fight against hunger. As farmers, activists and aid workers, women are feeding their communities, reducing poverty, and challenging those in power to do more.

Kitabe from Ethiopia

Kitabe is a member of a cooperative organized by Oxfam and partners in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Through the project, she received a loan to improve her onion farm. She was scared and reluctant to join the project at first - because as a poor woman, her status in the community was low.

Now, she says, " With the loan we got we have become more productive and have learned new skills. We also have food. We are not scared now - we don't have food insecurity. The biggest thing I have learned is to be fearless, and I fear nothing now."

"It's much easier for men. They get up early, eat, and go to farm. They spend all day working on the farm or supervising. For me, it is double the job. I have to work on the farm and look after my family."

Kitabe meets with other women in the community regularly to help deal with these issues. "We discuss our challenges, our work. We work together in groups. When I struggle to read all the women come to support me."

Mary from South Sudan

Mary moved onto an island with her children after facing extreme hunger in South Sudan. But she found that food and trade were scarce.

"We used to go to the swamp for water lilies, sometimes the water is very deep and reaches right up to your neck. And after all work, the taste is not good. They gave us pain in our stomach."

But then Mary began doing some impressive cultivation, thanks to an Oxfam initiative to help island and mainland communities set up vegetable gardens to boost their own diets and build up their livelihoods.

"From our vegetable garden we're growing lots. In fact, we have enough okra, eggplant, onion and more to feed ourselves and our children, and send them to school."

Monica from Nigeria

Monica Maigari is an extraordinary smallholder farmer and teacher from Kaduna state in Nigeria. As well as running her own farm, she has helped set up women's groups to share farming knowledge and techniques.

Since winning Oxfam's Female Food Hero competition in 2014, Monica has spoken at high profile events in Addis Ababa and Washington DC. From her village to the world stage, she is committed to helping other women to grow in their farming.

Monica says, "Women must join together to build a better food system, and to advocate for our rights to land, tools, and education"

Maria from Tanzania

Maria is no ordinary farmer. Last year she won the Female Food Hero competition in Tanzania - which was broadcast to an estimated 10 million people!

The 15 finalists had to complete tasks on everything from farming and selling crops to helping end violence against women. They also received training and advice from banks and food processing companies.

Maria used her acceptance speech to call on the government to increase the agriculture budget to help small scale women farmers.

Help Women Lead the Fight Against Hunger

It's easy to see women as victims of the global food crisis. But if women were given equal rights, resources and a seat at the table where decisions are being made, they could help turn the situation around.

For World Food Day, give a gift of hope to support women in the developing world.
When you buy a chicken, a pack of seeds or a garden through Oxfam Unwrapped, you are supporting Oxfam's food security programs. These gifts are about supporting food security and boosting livelihoods for the long term.

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Women who are Leading the Fight Against Hunger

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Climate change, conflict and the failure of governments to tackle them have left more than 800 million people living with hunger around the world.When hunger strikes, women are more likely to be affected. But women also have the power to overcome hunger and provide food for their families and communities.

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World Food Programme: Zero Hunger website

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World Food Programme: Zero Hunger website

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Across the world, up to 811 million people do not have enough food. According to recent estimates, 45 million people in 43 countries are at risk of sliding into famine - the most extreme form of hunger, which can result in death from starvation or disease. Indeed, parts of Yemen, South Sudan and Madagascar may be close to or are already in the grip of famine.

The consequence of diets poor in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are affecting the health and life prospects of millions more, and casting a shadow over the future of communities and entire countries.

Although enough food is produced to feed everyone on this planet, the goal of a world with zero hunger, as set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically in Sustainable Development Goal 2, remains hugely challenging due to a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate change, disasters and structural poverty and inequality. Over the past year, the socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have further exacerbated the situation by pushing millions of vulnerable people into greater food insecurity.

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Across the world, up to 811 million people do not have enough food. According to recent estimates, 45 million people in 43 countries are at risk of sliding into famine - the most extreme form of hunger, which can result in death from starvation or disease. Indeed, parts of &nbsp

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Where is hunger most found in the world?

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Tech Solutions to Solve Global Food Shortages

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Tech Solutions to Solve Global Food Shortages

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Within minutes, you can find or crowd-source an answer to your mystery, keeping it from perplexing you any longer.

Now, take that scenario and shift it to a remote farmer, thousands of miles awayin Africa, responsible for the food both their family and you will soon eat.

An estimated 70% of the world's food comes from small, isolated farms that are no bigger, on average, than 2 acres. Until now, people working on these farms relied on word of mouth to solve life's daily puzzles, but their access to information is being transformed -- along with the food they produce.

"It's about increasing food productivity ... better crops, better livestock, so we can double productivity throughout Africa," businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates said in an interview with CNN.

"We have one-fifth the productivity in Africa that we have in Europe and the United States," he said.

The green revolution of the 1960s saw agriculture flourish, particularly in Asia, to improve food security globally as populations grew in size, but Africa lagged behind. Gates feels, however, that now is the time to bring the region up. "The same type of productivity increase needs to be done again."

Certain countries in Africa face regular challenges in terms of their yield, including drought and crop failure that can lead to famine, such as was declared in South Sudan this week.

So through his foundation, Gates and wife Melinda are funding a range of projects using a powerful tool that didn't exist during the first agricultural revolution: the cell phone.

A social network to feed the world

Though small-hold farmers produce the majority of the food we eat, they are also morevulnerable to factors beyond their control: climate change, failing seeds, volatile markets and infectious crop diseases. But a new peer-to-peer service, known as WeFarm, is using a simple form of social networking to help them stay informed.

"(We're) helping small-hold farmers across the world access crucial information in a timely fashion," said Mwinyi Bwika, head of user acquisition at WeFarm in Kenya.

The approach is simple: When a farmer sees something strange about his crops, he sends a message to the local WeFarm number. The question is then processed and sent out to select members of the messaging community. A useful answer could be returned within minutes.

According to WeFarm, 90% of small-hold farmers are now able to access a cell phone, meaning many could be connected globally.

Launched in 2015, the platform is headquartered in London and is being trialed in Kenya, Uganda and Peru. It addresses a key factor forgotten as new technologies inundate the agricultural sector: keeping people informed.

"Information is at the core of everything we do," Bwika said. "Our farmers have information and knowledge that would benefit other farmers within the network. ... (They) learned how to farm from their parents ... and their parents learned from their parents. ... (We) can tap into this generational knowledge."

More than 120,000 farmers are connected using the service, and more than 280,000 questions have been answered.

"Text is a far better method" to communicate, said Shailaja Fennell, who coordinates the Global Food Security Initiative at the University of Cambridge but is not involved in the WeFarm program. "The idea of WeFarm is powerful in terms of building a community."

Fennell added that methods of communicating can vary across cultures and age groups and that these differences would need to be understood by the people intercepting the questions. "Social norms and behaviors vary massively," she said, but she believes that overall, the idea could make a big difference to farmers in need of knowledge.

"Food has become a powerful industry ... but the extension (to provide information) has not grown alongside it," she said.

New seeds to break tradition

The quest for information among farmers does not stop at sending a text. An approach being used by the Seed Trade Association of Kenya is getting farmers to look outside their comfort zone to improve food production.

A new program, Mbegu Choice (Swahili for "seed choice"), is opening the eyes of small-hold farmers to a new world of seeds, and therefore plants, that produce food year-round and whenever they need it.

"It's a database of all crops available in Kenya," said Aline O'Connor, director of the consultancy firm Agri Experience, which developed the program now passed on to the Seed Trade Association.

"There is a lot of food insecurity in Kenya, approximately 42% of Kenyans ... and the diversity of their diet is not good," O'Connor said. "You want to grow a variety of crops."

The goal of Mbegu Choice is to therefore help farmers choose what plants to grow after describing the conditions of their farmland and their region to get a list of seed varieties that could flourish there.

"We're trying to get farmers to look at newer seeds," O'Connor said. "It's like a software upgrade. They're better."

The process is again simple: state your county, the ecology and the crop you want. Then choose whether you want an early-growing crop and whether you need it to be drought- or disease-tolerant. Out comes a tailored selection of seeds in either English or Swahili.

The site has seen more than 26,000 users in Kenya -- 34,000 globally -- and includes all seed varieties available in Kenya, listed at the click of a button. The limit for now is the need for a computer or smartphone.

"A lot of farmers don't have access to the internet or an app, so we're a little ahead of ourselves," O'Connorsaid.

Fennell agrees that the need to be online is a major limitation of this service in reaching the people who truly need it, but she commends the approach to get people thinking about seed choice.

"This is a very different portal. ... It would make sense to make it in the languages of local farmers," she said. "New seed variety use needs understanding."

Their use could mean farmers have maize, beans and other varieties growing throughout the year to get their families -- and eventual customers -- eating a more varied diet.

Using phones and satellites to predict drought

In multiple regions of the world, food supplies are impeded by drought, none more than the Horn of Africa, which has seen droughts occur almost annually for the past 12 years, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The consequences of drought are numerous, including reduced food and water availability, increased fire risk, insect infestation, disease infection and wind erosion, all further reducing the volumes of food that can be produced.

In most of the countries in the area, more than 25% of the population suffers from hunger and chronic undernourishment.

But researchers at Columbia University are combining satellite data with knowledge on the ground to help at-risk populations and farmers predict -- and prepare -- ahead of time.

They have been using findings from a study known as SATIDA (Satellite Technologies for Improved Drought Assessment), led by the Vienna University of Technology. This study used satellite data to identify regional drought patterns and trends in partnership with people using smart phones on the ground to explore local knowledge on droughts and activities that may further fuel food insecurity, such as war.

Together, this united global and local information to flag vulnerable populations.

"The goal is to know whether a drought is going on," said lead researcher Markus Enenkel of Columbia's International Research Institute for Climate and Society. "But it's also not always drought that leads to food insecurity; it can be due to volatility," he said of civil unrest or undernutrition.

Though smartphones are still a luxury for many small-hold farmers, community health workers used apps to collect information from the farmers and families at risk to inform the teams at Columbia how best to move forward.

The team now has two projects stemming from the initial use of satellites and smartphones: one confirming the occurrence of drought so farmers can get insurance payouts when their crops fail and the other enabling biweekly, or monthly, forecasts of climates to help pre-empt changes in food production. "We can give a seasonal summary to help people prepare," Enenkel said.

"This is an important idea," Fennell said. "There is value in drawing big data and linking it to farmers on the ground."

She added that the use of community workers is crucial to ensure that the voices of the affected are truly heard. "I would think even more about this community interface," she said.

At the core of these programs lies great hope for the role of technology in changing the value of farming, but Fennell admits that each program has its pros and cons.

"It would be good to have a hybrid across these," she said. "The world of IT is fantastic, but to truly deliver, the products must be owned and analyzed by the community."

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the tech solutions to end global hunger - cnn

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Within minutes, you can find or crowd-source an answer to your mystery, keeping it from perplexing you any longer. Now, take that scenario and shift it to a remote farmer, thousands of miles awayin Africa, responsible for the food both their family and you will soon eat.

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World hunger is on the rise. Today, nearly one in 10 people around the world suffer from hunger.

The solution to combatting hunger seems simple - get food to people in need when they need it. And while we have answered the call time and time again in response to crises and humanitarian need, supporting food security requires much more than filling people's bellies.

Food security exists when people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to adequate and nutritious food so they can live healthy and productive lives. When individuals and families have access to food, are educated about nutrition and how to be healthy, and can grow more crops and sell more harvests, they can be self-sufficient and resilient to future crises.

We can combat global hunger and malnutrition, but it takes a holistic approach to ensure long-lasting impact. Here are five ways USAID, through efforts like Food for Peace and Feed the Future, is investing in agriculture and food security to end hunger.
1. Improving agriculture to boost incomes
The extreme poor often rely on farming for their livelihoods. However, many smallholder farmers live far from markets where they can make a profit selling their crops. They face challenges like lack of access to credit, resources, and skills needed to improve their harvest.

To ensure farmers are connected to economic opportunities through agriculture, we work with our partners - from the private sector to universities and civil society organizations - to help smallholders get the support, know-how, and access they need to be successful.

For example, in Kenya, smallholder farmers who previously couldn't compete with larger growers have boosted their crop production, minimized post-harvest losses, and connected to markets with skills gained from USAID. Some are even selling their surplus crops to the UN World Food Program to help feed other communities in drought-prone areas.

Through Feed the Future, in particular, we're helping developing countries build stronger food systems that provide opportunities for rural communities - from farms to markets to tables - by investing in agriculture and bringing partners together.
2. Teaching shared responsibility for health and nutrition
Educating people on proper nutrition, sanitation and hygiene so they stay healthy is crucial to addressing food insecurity. For example, lack of safe drinking water and poor sanitation and hygiene can lead to waterborne diseases and chronic intestinal infections, robbing children of their potential and keeping farmers from tending to their fields.

Health and nutrition efforts take root when people adopt the right behaviors, such as washing their hands before preparing food. Trainings can empower all household members to share in these responsibilities. In some communities, this has changed the social dynamics in a family, making the distribution of household duties more equitable between men and women.

For example, in Zimbabwe a forward-thinking group of men now collect water for the family - traditionally a woman's role. They have constructed latrines and handwashing stations, and are training others on proper handwashing and the need to use soap or ash in addition to water.
3. Empowering women in agriculture
Likewise in Uganda, where men typically raise livestock and keep the sales, women are challenging traditional gender roles by learning goat herding skills and generating incomes themselves.

Empowering women to start businesses can help ensure their families earn enough money to put food on the table. In Haiti, female farmers who were once chronically food insecure can now feed their families, expand their businesses and save for their children's futures. In Senegal, rural women are getting the tools they need with USAID's help to grow, share, and sell more nutritious food for better health and extra profit.
4. Managing natural resources and preparing for disasters
For communities that rely on natural resources for their income, learning about sustainable resource management is vital. Years of poor management - such as overgrazing by livestock - can degrade farmland, making it difficult for farmers to earn a living.

We also educate communities on the impacts of natural disasters and how to prepare for them.

In Malawi and Ethiopia, we equip farmers and pastoralists with tools and opportunities that help their communities build resilience so they can better withstand crises such as droughts. Helping vulnerable people build resilience to crises is vital to addressing poverty and hunger.
5. Meeting Immediate Needs
We also provide humanitarian assistance to communities in crisis. In emergency situations, such as the aftermath of a natural disaster, we meet the immediate food and nutrition needs of communities through in-kind food, cash transfers or food vouchers.

In Sierra Leone, we helped families get back on their feet after Ebola by providing cash transfers so mothers could buy food for their families. These moms also had an opportunity to join community savings groups, allowing them to start small businesses and farms - and get a head start on a more hopeful future.
About the Authors: Beth Dunford is Assistant to the Administrator in USAID's Bureau for Food Security and Deputy Coordinator for Development for Feed the Future, the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative. Matthew Nims is Acting Director of USAID's Office of Food for Peace.

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5 Ways USAID Is Helping to End World Hunger - World

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World hunger is on the rise. Today, nearly one in 10 people around the world suffer from hunger. The solution to combatting hunger seems simple - get food to people in need when they need it. And while we have answered the call time and time again in response to crises and humanitarian need, supporting food security requires much more than filling people's bellies.

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Texas Teen Activist Fighting Against Food Insecurity

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Texas Teen Activist Fighting Against Food Insecurity

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"People often tell us that we're doing a great job with Will," says his mom, Julie, 41, "but in reality, it's Will who inspires us to give back to our community. Will thinks big."

Will Lourcey was 7 years old when he first became aware that there were people in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, who didn't know where they would find their next meal.

"I was riding home from a Little League game one night, sitting in the back of my parents' car, and I saw a man holding a cardboard sign that said, 'Need a Meal,'" Will, now 14, tells PEOPLE. "I went to bed feeling sad that there were people in my community without enough food to eat."

Two weeks later, when his parents asked him how he wanted to spend his summer, Will was ready with a reply: "I want to start a charity to help people like that man we saw holding the sign."

After his dad arranged a tour of the local food bank, Will gathered several of his friends together around his dining room table and came up with the idea for FROGS: Friends Reaching Our Goals, a nonprofit to help the hungry in Fort Worth. They held a canned goods drive and donated 1,400 cans of soup, chili, peaches and tuna fish to the food bank, along with $1,000.

Then the real work began.

With help from his parents, Bill Lourcey, a financial advisor, and Julie, a teacher, Will started FROG Center Clubs, working with local boys and girls clubs to provide low-income children with a nutritious, sit-down dinner once a month. He also enlisted friends to recruit other young people to chip in and help the hungry in their own neighborhoods.

"People often tell us that we're doing a great job with Will," says Julie, 41, "but in reality, it's Will who inspires us to give back to our community. Will thinks big. He doesn't see obstacles, only opportunities. We hope his message inspires other youth to take action and help make positive change, all across our nation."

Since October 2010, through food drives and the dinner club, FROGS has provided an estimated 500,000 meals to those in need throughout Fort Worth, Will tells PEOPLE. He now devotes at least 10 hours a week to fundraising, planning and recruiting new volunteers, when he isn't attending classes at Trinity Valley School, where he's in the 8th grade.

"Helping the hungry is important to me - nobody should have to go without food," he says. "We have so much in this country. Why not pass it along?"

At FROGS dinner clubs, Will tries to provide needy children with an experience similar to one they'd get at a restaurant, "since many of them have never eaten out before," he tells PEOPLE.

"We try to give them a variety - Asian, Mexican, Italian, even breakfast," he says, "and we make sure that it's healthy. Some kids have never seen broccoli or a carrot before because they're in areas known as 'food deserts.' They live in neighborhoods where there is a lack of fresh, affordable food and their only option might be to shop at a convenience store."

Meals for the dinner clubs are donated by Forth Worth area restaurants, including Cousin's Bar-B-Q, a regular contributor.

"Getting involved with an organization is easy - staying involved is the hard part," Jason Cross, vice-president for Cousin's operations, tells PEOPLE. "Will has put an organization together that has a long runway and has made it easy for us to attach to his well thought-out plan, energy and passion. We're very proud to be a part of his journey to end hunger."

Kids who regularly help Will with FROGS are also passionate about the cause.

"I really admire Will," says Parker Harris, 11, a fifth-grader at Forth Worth's Tanglewood Elementary who has volunteered with FROGS for two years. "He thought of a way to help others and made it happen. He has a really big heart and shows it's important to help others in any way you can. It makes you feel grateful for what you have and not take it for granted."

"I'm just one person - but FROGS is proof that kids are capable of doing more than people give us credit for," Will tells PEOPLE. "It's important to give youth a voice - to let them know that regardless of their age, they have the ability to make a difference."

"I like to tell kids, 'Make a plan, gather friends and change the world. It really starts with you.'"
Know a hero? Send suggestions to heroesamongus@peoplemag.com. For more inspiring stories, read the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine.

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Texas Teen Helps Feed the Hungry in His Hometown

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"People often tell us that we're doing a great job with Will," says his mom, Julie, 41, "but in reality, it's Will who inspires us to give back to our community. Will thinks big." Will Lourcey was 7 years old when he first became aware that there were people in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, who didn't know where they would find their next meal.

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Innovations and Technology that Help us End Hunger

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Innovations and Technology that Help us End Hunger

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M. S. Swaminathan, the "Father of the Green Revolution in India".,

It is the cruelest form of inequity: denying a child at birth the opportunity to fully express his or her innate genetic potential for physical and mental development. And yet every night nearly one billion children, women and men go to bed hungry.

Maternal and foetal under-nutrition constantly leads to children being born disadvantaged through low birth weight. Such children suffer from many handicaps in later life including impaired cognitive abilities. We cannot allow this unpardonable condition to continue. The world is not short of ideas on social protection against hunger, so adopting a 'business-as-usual' attitude is no longer acceptable. What we need is innovative thinking, action and efficiency. And it is happening in the least expected places.

Today, hunger and poverty have come to occupy a high place in the national and international political and public agenda. What kind of innovative approach will help then to rescue our planet from widespread hunger and deprivation? The answer lies in transformational technologies. At this precise moment they are changing the lives of the producers of food - of farmers and of fishermen - in their everyday work.

There are today uncommon opportunities for introducing a pro-nature, pro-woman and pro-poor orientation to the war against hunger. India has 700 million mobile phones. We are now able to reach people with messages at the right time and in the right places. Almost everybody in the village has a mobile phone, which is why we are concentrating on developing Village Knowledge Centres. Here, local people have ownership; they - particularly the women - run and manage the centres. These are centres where the agricultural and nutritional information that families and farmers need is at hand, ready to be shared by fellow community members.

Most of the 200 knowledge centres we operate are paid for by the local villages and although the physical infrastructure exists, funds are needed for training, capacity building, and content creation. Government should provide adequate resources for establishing more ICT-based Village Knowledge Centres to be operated by the local communities, in particular rural women, as experience shows that bridging the digital divide is also a powerful method of bridging the gender divide.

People ask if knowledge centres can take root in Africa. The answer is 'Yes', but they require transformational leaders with an empathy towards the poor, who are gender sensitive, and who are willing to give time to help bridge the digital divide. What this will demand is a whole army of trained people who are both professionally competent and highly socially motivated.

Mobile phones ¬ all 700 million of them in India - are transforming how we work. An example: fishermen who go out to sea are able to have data on wave heights, location of fish shoals and so on. Thus small fisheries that used to spend about 10 hours a day in the ocean are now able to return within two hours with a good catch of fish. After the tsunami of December 26, 2004, fishermen were afraid of venturing into the sea over a long distance. They are now able to set out with confidence, aware of the likely wave heights at different distances from the shore. For small family farmers in India, the monsoon and the market are two major determinants of income security. Today it is possible to convey reliable information through mobile phones on the likely behaviour of the monsoon, as well as the market. This transformational technology transforms the way people operate, the things they know, and enables them to own their lives.

Meanwhile, one of cheapest and most efficient ways of overcoming many of the underlying problems of malnutrition is to converge agriculture, nutrition and health programmes. That is, to marry agricultural and nutritional considerations. That's exactly what we are trying to do in India - in our 200 districts where malnutrition is high we are building nutritional literacy among farmers. By 2020 we should see a vast improvement and much more speedy impact on health and human nutrition. We are making local people in charge of this innovation, and what they need is both dynamic information and generic information that they then manage themselves.

UNICEF is a powerful leader in this struggle for a hunger-free world and healthy and happy children. By mobilizing transformational technologies and leaders UNICEF will be able to assist all nations accelerate progress in the elimination of hunger and increase the growth of sustainable livelihoods.

M. S. Swaminathan is known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India". He is the chairman of the National Commission on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security of India.

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Innovations to end hunger: from farmers to fisherman

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It is the cruelest form of inequity: denying a child at birth the opportunity to fully express his or her innate genetic potential for physical and mental development. And yet every night nearly one billion children, women and men go to bed hungry.

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"Rethink Zero" - the Zero Hunger Challenge

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Unhealthy diets could undo progress on food security in Asia-Pacific, warns UN report

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Urgent action is needed to tackle malnutrition and promote consumption of healthier foods in the Asia-Pacific region - home to most of the world's undernourished people - the United Nations food security agency said Friday.

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Conflicts and Droughts Complicate Global Food Supply

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Conflicts and Droughts Complicate Global Food Supply

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Despite strong global food supply, localized drought, flooding and protracted conflicts have intensified and perpetuated food insecurity, the United Nations agriculture agency reported Thursday.

The new edition of the UN Food and Agriculture Agency's ( FAO) Crop Prospects and Food Situation report revealed that some 37 countries - 29 of which are in Africa - require external food assistance.

"Ongoing conflicts continue to be a key driver of severe food insecurity, having triggered near-famine conditions in northern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, as well as widespread hunger in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo - and Syria," FAO stated.

The report also said that conflict impedes productive activities, hinders access to food and significantly intensifies the numbers of internally displaced people.

In Africa, the report details that urgently in need food of assistance are about 1.1 million people in the Central Africa Republic; some 7.7 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which hosts more than 200,000 refugees and four million internally displaced persons; over three million in northern Nigeria; some 4.8 million in South Sudan; and 3.1 million in Somalia - a number that has tripled over the past year.

Elsewhere, it points out that chronic hunger or food insecurity is confronted by 7.6 million in Afghanistan; 3.2 million in Iraq; and 6.5 million in Syria.

Moreover, in Yemen 17 million, or 60 per cent of the population, are believed to require urgent humanitarian assistance. The report notes that should November's maritime port closures be repeated the country would risk famine.
Learn more about FAO's work in these countries here
In some regions, adverse weather conditions are taking their toll on farm food outputs - notably due to drought in East Africa and floods in parts of Asia.

Some 8.5 million people are estimated to be food insecure in Ethiopia, especially in the Somali region. Consecutive unfavourable rainy seasons have curtailed crop and livestock production in Kenya, leaving about 2.6 million people severely food insecure.

The report also flags concerns in Bangladesh, where three episodes of flash floods this year caused substantial damage to the rice crop.

A severe summer drought has also cut Mongolia's wheat harvest by almost half.

Despite local negative trends, the report points out that, overall, global food production is booming. In addition, production gains are being recorded in many low-income food-deficit countries, where the aggregate cereal output is forecast to grow by two per cent this year.

Via UN News Centre

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Conflicts, drought drive hunger despite strong global food supply - UN agriculture agency - United Nations Sustainable Development

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Despite strong global food supply, localized drought, flooding and protracted conflicts have intensified and perpetuated food insecurity, the United Nations agriculture agency reported Thursday. The new edition of the UN Food and Agriculture Agency's ( FAO) Crop Prospects and Food Situation report revealed that some 37 countries - 29 of which are in Africa - require external food assistance.

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Sustainable Develop Goal 2: Zero Hunger 

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Sustainable Develop Goal 2: Zero Hunger 

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UN PDF that gives an overview of the topic

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Newsela | Study reveals economic costs associated with global malnutrition

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Newsela | Dying of Hunger: What is a Famine?

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Since the launch of the chain of Indira Canteens across Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) in August 2017, the state-backed scheme has served as many as 30 million meals to the city's residents. The canteens offer heavily subsidized food to the public, with breakfast costing just five Indian rupees (€0.06, $0.07) while lunch and dinner each costing 10 rupees (€0.12) - a price which is as good as free for many.

The canteens, similar to soup kitchens in the West, provide simple and daily changing menu centered on local cuisine and dietary requirements.

India's urban poor remain one of the most neglected and marginalized groups in the country. It is estimated that around 65 million Indians live in urban slums, equivalent to the entire population of the United Kingdom.

These slums, often surrounding the neighborhoods of the rich and upper middle classes, are home to impoverished people who, in many cases, have migrated from their native villages in search of a better life. It's therefore not surprising that the main beneficiaries of the Indira Canteens program have been daily wage laborers, homeless beggars, low-income workers and even college students in Bengaluru.

Even school and college students find the cheap meals at Indira Canteens helpful
Customer satisfaction
"I've been routinely eating in one of the Indira Canteens for the past few months," Ravi Kumar, an auto rickshaw (tuk tuk) driver who was having lunch at one of the canteens in a posh location in central Bengaluru, told DW. "This has considerably brought down my monthly expenses as I'm spending less than a quarter of what I used to spend earlier on food."

Nikhil, who gave only his first name and was standing next to Kumar in the queue, chipped in by saying: "I'm a software engineer with a small company. It's exactly the same for me as well. I've been eating lunch in this canteen, located close to my firm, since it was launched. I used to spend at least 70 rupees on a decent meal, now I wrap up my lunch for just 10 rupees."
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More than 170 such facilities have so far been set up across Bengaluru, India's tech capital with a population of roughly 12.3 million residents, serving an average of nearly 250,000 people a day. Based on the "hub and spoke model," centralized kitchens are established in each locality where the food is cooked and then transferred to canteens operating under the kitchens' limits.

Most of the canteens witness full-house crowds on weekdays, especially the ones which are located near busy locations such as colleges and hospitals. Given the wild success, the government is mulling to replicate the scheme in other parts of the Karnataka state as well.

A dedicated mobile app has also been created allowing Bengaluru inhabitants to find five canteens nearest to their location. The app not only lets users to deliver feedback about a particular canteen but also provide information about the menu for the day.

More than 170 canteens have so far been set up across Bengaluru, which has a population of roughly 12.3 million residents
Political mileage
Widely seen as a pet project of the ruling state government in Karnataka, the Indira Canteens originally borrowed the idea from the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, where a similar chain of government-operated outlets known as "Amma Canteens" came into existence.

Named after the country's Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Karnataka's ruling Congress party undoubtedly had the upcoming assembly elections in mind when the scheme was announced.

Indira Canteens pinch the state's exchequer close to €16 million a year - a negligible percentage in the overall annual budget of about €26.4 billion. The government hopes such welfare measures will reap social and political benefits.

The canteens are being managed by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the administrative body which manages the city's civic and infrastructural needs.

"This can be a game changer for a bustling city like Bengaluru," Manoj Rajan, special commissioner of the BBMP and chairperson of Indira Canteen Special Task Force overseeing the entire project, told DW. "The canteen is a boon for many students who are far away from home, as well as for migrants, local workers, patients, and unemployed who are not able to afford a decent meal."

The canteens offer heavily subsidized food, with lunch and dinner each costing just €0.12
Theft of cutlery
The canteens, however, recently faced an unusual problem, with their managers complaining about widespread theft of cutlery. They found that after enjoying a meal, people were walking away with spoons and sometimes even steel glasses.

The problem dismayed many, but BBMP commissioner Rajan expressed confidence that this would not prove a major issue in the grand scheme of things.

"We've already provided CCTV and drafted in ex-servicemen for security arrangements in all the canteen facilities," said Rajan.

Noting that officials are ready to supply more spoons and glasses, Rajan said not many canteens have issued requests for additional cutlery items. Some canteens have also started providing spoons only for selected food items, he pointed out.

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Indira Canteens - the challenge of feeding India's urban poor | Asia| An in-depth look at news from across the continent | DW | 22.02.2018

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Since the launch of the chain of Indira Canteens across Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) in August 2017, the state-backed scheme has served as many as 30 million meals to the city's residents. The canteens offer heavily subsidized food to the public, with breakfast costing just five Indian rupees (€0.06, $0.07) while lunch and dinner each costing 10 rupees (€0.12) - a price which is as good as free for many.

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"Getting Teens Involved in the Fight Against Hunger" Move for Hunger. October 4, 2016

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