End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture – this is the 2nd goal of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For those less familiar with the UN SDGs, they are also called Global Goals and they were adopted by the United Nations in 2015, as a universal call to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. 

I am particularly interested in SDG 2 because of my keen interest in food and its intimate and multidimensional relationship with social, economic and environmental sustainability. We live in a world which produces enough food for all and yet, millions of people remain hungry. The United Nations FAO State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report 2020 and the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021  both indicate that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030.

Hunger is a complex problem and in order to understand hunger, it is useful to understand its various forms and underlying reasons. 

Food deprivation is defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as the habitual consumption of too few calories to provide minimum dietary energy which an individual requires to live a healthy, active and productive life; for their gender, age and stature. Undernutrition goes beyond calories and signifies deficiencies in any or all of the following – energy, protein, essential vitamins and minerals. And malnutrition refers to problems caused by undernutrition (deficiencies) and also, overnutrition i.e. imbalanced diets involving too many calories relative to an individual’s requirement. 

The Global Hunger Index (GHI), jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe is a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at a global, national and regional level and it refers to four component indicators:

1. Undernourishment i.e. insufficient calorie intake, as defined by the UN FAO
2. Child wasting : children under the age of 5 who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition 
3. Child stunting : children under the age of 5 who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition and
4. Child mortality : death rate of children under the age of 5, a reflection of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments

Overall, the world has witnessed decades of decline in poverty and hunger i.e. significant improvement. However, since 2015, there is a visible increase in one component of hunger – undernourishment. The UN estimates that nearly 690 million people are hungry i.e. 8.9% of the world’s population, up by 10 million people in one year and nearly 60 million people in the last 5 years. If urgent action is not taken, nearly 840 million people could become hungry by 2030, with extremely alarming levels of food insecurity in as many as 47 countries in the world.

What is causing food insecurity for so many people?

As the GHI report explains, food systems encompass everyone and everything connected to the production, distribution, consumption, recycling and disposal of food. Food systems include:

1. The natural system of water, the earth, the climate in which food is grown
2. The technical system comprising of the crops grown or the livestock raised 
3. The logistical and distribution system to enable the movement of food from producers to distributors and consumers, including the recycling and disposal of food 
4. And the social and economic system which is made up by the relationships between producers, distributors and consumers

Since food systems are also social systems, they reflect the inequalities found in all societies and as a result, food security is vulnerable to all events and systemic shocks and disruptions. Many factors contribute to hunger – poverty, inequality, poor governance, poor rural development, lack of investment in agriculture but, the GHI research shows that 3 major forces driving hunger are overpowering all others. I find it helpful to remember them as the 3 Cs – conflict, climate change and the covid-19 pandemic. 

Conflict has a disproportionately large impact on food security. More than 50% of the people facing hunger live in places which are affected by conflict and violence. Conflict increases food insecurity because of its impact on agricultural production and because people are displaced. Crops are destroyed or taken, inputs are destroyed or prevented from reaching farmers, land becomes inaccessible or unsuitable for agriculture, equipment and infrastructure are damaged and agricultural labour reduces due to death or injury or displacement. In most situations, displacement leaves people vulnerable to hunger and undernutrition because they are driven away from their homes, unable to work, isolated from the markets and financial credit. Conflict causes fear and uncertainty and as a result, it also reduces economic investment and weakens health care systems. 

In the last two years, a prominent reason for increased hunger is the covid-19 pandemic. It is estimated that the first year of the pandemic distorted decades of development. It worsened food security in many ways – loss of livelihoods, disruption in supply chains and massive increases in food prices. The most vulnerable under-nourished people simply cannot afford a healthy and nutritious diet because it is too expensive. Small scale producers have been hit hard and the vast majority of them are in the developing countries of the world, which already have a concentration of people who experience hunger and food insecurity. The eventual impact of the pandemic is not yet known; some estimates say that an additional 80-120 million people could become food insecure.

Looking into to the future, climate change and food production have an intrinsic relationship. The impact of climate on food security may or may not yet be visible to many of us. But, the climate is changing and particularly affecting countries and regions which are most sensitive to rainfall and temperature extremes and which have economies highly dependent on agriculture. The UN estimates that by 2050, an additional 78 million people could become chronically hungry, relative to a situation without the climate crisis. Closer home, a recent study conducted by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore indicates that by 2035, rising temperatures will significantly reduce the yield of rice, ragi (millet), jowar (sorghum), soybean and groundnut amongst others. On the other hand, production of crops which thrive in a high carbon dioxide environment like cotton and sugarcane will increase.

The statistics are overwhelming but, we need to pause for a moment and recognise that these are not mere numbers – they are real people, like you and me, human beings who do not know where the next meal will come from. 

It is not all dark. The solutions exist – across policy, governance, peace building efforts, climate action, financing, law, and ultimately, locally led implementation with involvement from all actors, including citizens like us. As people of the modern world, we live, work and consume in ways that were unimaginable to the people before us. Hence, we have the capability and responsibility to make sure that no one gets left behind, least of all when it comes to food. Do you agree?