Can a hungry world
ever feel secure?
fnbworld.com/Aditi Jindal
Global food prices have skyrocketed over 80% in the last three years... The right to adequate food is a foremost basic human right. But how many human beings qualify for this? What debars them in proclaiming the right in today's society? The answer is the prevalence of food insecurity on a global scale.
It is not the availability but accessibility of food that enables a food secured economy. Countries such as Niger, Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia, Mali and South Africa are all victims to a high degree of hunger and malnutrition. Inflation is a big hurdle in achieving food security as global food prices have skyrocketed more than 80% in the last three years.
Agriculture breakdown due to environmental changes has led to an additional 600 million facing malnutrition. Use of cereals primarily for bio-fuels production has increased by more than 25% compared to a meagre 4% to 7% for food and feed, leaving less land for food production. The book Food Security and Global Economy published by Pentagon Press undeniably captures the towering importance of the present scenario of food insecurity in a credulous manner.
The chapters have been meticulously arranged highlighting each cause in detail. The book provides peculiar insights that leave you spellbound for a moment. Some of these are: Over 25,000 debt-ridden Indian farmers committed suicide in 2007. What is the Haitian remedy for controlling the hunger pangs?
Is it the cookies made of dried yellow dirt? Rural India has the largest number of undernourished people - 212 million! Also grabbing the eyeballs are the nail biting projections listed in the book. For instance, a temperature increase of more than 3 degree celsius may cause prices to increase by up to 40%. Bio-fuels targets alone can create another additional 600 million hungry people by 2025.
The figures are glaring enough for the reader to get thinking. The book and offers abundant knowledge on a vast arena of food security issues from a global perspective. Be it the understanding of the problems, the causes, projections or the facts, it's a comprehensive study worth reading and absorbing. It is a reminder to both individuals and the government(s) to act now.
The co-authors of the book, Dr. Avanish K. Tiwari and Dr. Jeevan Nair have done a commendable job by bringing into focus the stark reality of global food security issues in the most convincing and logical manner. The hardbound is priced at 1,295 and is worth every single rupee.
