People are not starving; people are being starved 

Noel Alabi Anzo

What you need to know:

  • Every person has a duty to corporate with stakeholders to increase productivity by farmers, access to markets and market information, access to credit and financial services.

While world hunger has come a long way, we are still facing a crisis-one that has been exacerbated by climate change, conflict, and COVID-19. For the second successive year, Uganda marked this year’s World Food Day (October 16) whilst fighting the pandemic. 

In 2020, 811 million people worldwide went hungry, that’s a 25 per cent increase from 2019, which is greater than the total increase over the past five years. Food insecurity is a leading cause of wasting making up 45 per cent of preventable deaths for children under five years. Children who suffer from wasting are 11 times more likely to die than their well-nourished counterparts. 

Hunger increased in all regions of the world. Asia has the largest total number of hungry people, but Africa has the highest percentage. By 2030, projections are that 656.8 million people will be hungry. This is six per cent higher than the number of hungry people in 2015, the year 193 governments committed to zero hunger in the context of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development in 2015. 

This year’s theme; Our Actions are our future. Better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and better life call us to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, with an aim to get back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

World Vision is set up to make a difference. Last year alone, we ran 365 projects in 29 countries, providing assistance to 12 million people (58 per cent of whom were children) and our work has also helped to feed 684,000 children under five years, and 173,000 pregnant women. 89 per cent of the children we help make full recovery. The reason we are so effective is that we have boots on the ground, mobilizing locally to create the biggest impact. 

Given this context, World Vision has shown commitment in the West Nile region to transform production systems to sustainable agriculture with a special focus on increasing income and nutrition to address poverty, protect and conserve the environment and ensure better lives for refugees and their hosting communities.

Through activities like providing improved early maturing crops to farmers who are resilient to pests, diseases and drought production will increase. We have also established demonstration sites for farmer groups that serve as multiplication and learning centers for the transfer of technologies (improved seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides) and practices (field layout and design, timely planting, weed management, soil and water conservation, pests and disease management, agro-forestry and general agronomy) to increase production and subsequently income to reduce pressure on the degradation of natural resources and supporting communities to diversify their income through off-farm business ventures and vocational skills development. 

Every person has a duty to corporate with stakeholders to increase productivity by farmers, access to markets and market information, access to credit and financial services. Our actions are critical not only because it prevents people from going hungry in the short run, but also stimulates the production and provides greater income stability in the longer-term, thus reducing food insecurity and poverty.

Mr Noel Alabi Anzo, is an Emergency Resilience and Livelihood Specialist at World Vision.