Food Supply

I recently read on an ad that we produce enough food to feed everyone on this planet and yet 1 out of every 7 people is malnourished. This means almost a billion people don’t have enough to eat every day. Now if there is enough food for everyone then where’s the food for these billion people going? Are some of us overeating? Or may be wasting? It has to be true because this morning I heard Ethiopia has asked for urgent food aid for almost 6 million people. According to UN even North Korea’s food situation is desperate as food aid is only reaching 1/3rd of the people. 20 million people need food aid in Africa due to poor rainfall. Food prices are also going up because of poor rain fall in Asian countries where much of the wheat and rice is grown.

Despite all the shortages and inflation, we here enjoy the luxury of sitting in a nice restaurant regularly devouring various cuisines from around the world, over stacking our fridges with food and throwing away food that is 1 day past its expiry or food that got spoilt because we just forgot to eat it. I don’t know if this lifestyle is right or wrong but morally it certainly sounds wrong. How can I now go to an Ethiopian restaurant to eat when I know people in Ethiopia are dying for that same food? If those same ingredients can be brought here so we can all enjoy that delicacy then why not in Ethiopia itself. If there is lack of food supply in a particular country then I am sure we have enough surpluses elsewhere to cover that shortage. That food doesn’t reach the needy because it’s kept in reserves so just in case there is drought or any other disasters, people of that country are saved. Drought may not happen but food remains in those warehouses. I am not saying countries don’t send food aid wherever required but there is obviously something wrong in the system that so many people go hungry every day.

I remember reading a book called “The Skeptical Environmentalist” written by a Danish author, Bjorn Lomborg. It came back in 2002 and took everyone by surprise with its audacious content. Hailed as a revolutionary book, it claimed we have enough resources in the world to feed more people than we currently have on daily basis. Many criticised for misinterpreting scientific data but then many were convinced. I support Lomborg because looking at western countries (and now even Asia) where obesity rate is all time high and where weight loss diets/plans are fast becoming billion dollar industries, certain portion of the population is more than just well fed.

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