Hunger is strongly interconnected with poverty, and it involves interactions among an array of social, political, demographic, and societal factors. People living in poverty frequently face household food insecurity, use inappropriate care practices, and live in unsafe environments that have low access to quality water, sanitation, and hygiene, and inadequate access or availability to health services and education—all of which contribute to hunger. Conflict is also a key driver of severe food crises, including famine—a fact officially recognized by the UN Security Council in May 2018 . Hunger and undernutrition are much worse when conflicts are prolonged and institutions are weak. The number of conflicts is on the rise, some worsened by climate-related shocks. People and organizations working to combat hunger must take conflict-sensitive approaches, much more so than in the past. Weather-related events, in part associated with climate change, have also impacted food availability in many countries and thus contributed to the rise of food insecurity. Economic downturns in countries dependent on oil and other primary-commodity export revenues has also affected food availability and decreased people’s ability to access food.

 According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), almost 1 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and almost 2 billion are under- or over nourished. Children are the most visible victims of nutritional deficiencies. Approximately 5 million children die each year because of poor nutrition. Access to adequate food during the first 1,000 days of life is vitally important for healthy future generations. Even a temporary lack of food during that crucial time has a negative effect on physical and intellectual development.  The prevalence of undernourishment in sub-Saharan Africa has declined from 33.2 percent in 1990– 92 to 23.2 percent in 2014–16, although the number of undernourished people has actually increased (FAO et al., 2017).In Southern Asia, which includes the countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the prevalence of undernourishment is rising again, increasing from 9.4 percent in 2015 to 11.5 percent in 2016 (FAO et al., 2017). Eastern Asia (where China is the largest country) and South-eastern Asia (including Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam) have reduced undernutrition substantially. Latin America has the most successful developing region record in increasing food security; however, the prevalence of undernutrition has been rising again, especially in South America, from 5 percent in 2015 to 5.6 percent in 2016 (FAO et al., 2017). 2015 marked the end of the monitoring period for the two internationally agreed targets for hunger reduction. The target for the Millennium Development Goals for lower-middle-income countries as a whole was to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015 from the base year(s) of 1990-2, or from 23.2 percent to ll.6 percent. As the proportion in 2014-16 is 12.9 percent, the goal has almost been met. Following the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals aim to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030 (FAO et al., 2017).

Predictions:

FAO statistics confirm that the world produces enough food to feed the 7 billion people living today, and even the estimated 9-10 billion population in 2050. Global agriculture produces 17% more calories per person today than 30 years ago, despite a 70% increase in population. Despite this, for the 2 billion people making less than $2 a day – many of whom live in rural areas where resource-poor farmers cultivate small plots of land – most can’t afford to buy food. It is an economic system that is responsible for this prevalence of poverty and hunger. Zero hunger by 2030 is possible with political will, public participation and the right combination of policies and technical and financial support.

In 2015, Turkey led a significant initiative within the framework of the G20 chairmanship and ensured that the focus of the G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting in May 2015 became food waste and loss. "The campaign was launched with the heading 'Zero Waste for Zero Hunger: Support to reduce Food Loss and Food Waste.' Two workshops were realized for this project carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.  "As a donor, Turkey has provided financing of $30 million so far," the FAOSEC representative said. In cooperation with the World Food Program (WFP), over 5 million refugees, the majority of which are Syrians, are being assisted in Turkey, the country with the greatest refugee influx in the world.urkey contributed $3 million to expand Africa's Great Green Wall (BRIDGES), which aims to restore 5,000 hectares of degraded land in three African countries along the Sahara, namely Eritrea, Mauritania and Sudan.

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