Civic Issue Blog

How can countries address food insecurities through redistribution?

Part 1: Understanding the Problem

With great advancements in technology, where manufacturing of transistors smaller than the width of the DNA is possible, and massive growth in economy, with multi trillion dollar companies coming to rise, one might assume that the basic human problems like hunger are of the past. The sad truth is that hunger has remained prevalent in our societies even with massive advancements in human civilization. 

To solve world hunger is the second goal on the UN’s list of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The UN had also addressed this goal partially in one of the 8 Millennium Development Goals under the Eradication of Extreme Poverty by 2015. This goal was seeing significant progress as extreme poverty fell to half by 2010, “well ahead of the 2015 deadline” (United Nation, 2020). With this decline in extreme poverty, the proportion of undernourished people fell by half as well. However, progress slowed down significantly from the years 2015 to 2019, with 2020 seeing an incline in the number of undernourished people. According to the U.N around 720 million to 811 million people are still undernourished in 2020, while nearly a third of the global population doesn’t have adequate food. Problems like these are especially harmful to children as roughly twenty two percent of children face stunting in the year 2020. 

With a general grasp of the scope of the gravity of the malnutrition problem, it’s evident to now dive into understanding the problem of food wastage. According to the World Food Program, global hunger isn’t because of lack of food, but rather because of lack of a proper food distribution infrastructure. Their data indicates that “nearly a third of all food produced each year is squandered or lost before it can be consumed.” (World Food Program, 2020). The reasons behind the food waste changes from country to country. In developed countries, the majority of food waste comes from the kitchen. While in developing countries, the majority of the food waste comes from harvesting. If this wasted food were to be properly distributed then it could feed roughly 2 billion people. If this number were to be compared with the number of undernourished people (roughly 760 million) and the number of people without adequate amounts of food (roughly 2.6 billion people), it starts to become clear what the actual problem is. 

With food wastage comes not only the problem of food insecurity, but also the problem of energy, water, and land wastage alongside extreme levels of CO2 emissions. According to the World Food Program, if food waste was a country of its own then it would be the third highest emitter of CO2 after the U.S and China. The United Nation Environment Program estimates that “8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed.” (UNEP, 2021)

Food wastage occurs on every step of the food cycle from production to end of life. It is true that a lot of food wastage is because of inefficient work processes and domestic usage practices, some does occur naturally and is unavoidable. However, by simply making improvements on the human factor side of the food waste can bring a significant change to the current global food wastage. 

By reading such data and analyzing the presented statistics, one might ask if the problems of food insecurity and food wastage are so grave and interconnected, why haven’t the governments around the world used one to solve the other? The solution to the problems isn’t as simple. Food insecurity and food wastage around the world is a result of socio-economic problems lying under the global advancements. Food insecurity exists because of unequal distribution of wealth and prosperity among the population. While food wastage exists largely because of lack of technological advancements in poorer countries and the lack of education of sustainable consumption in developed countries. To solve one problem using the other is like drinking soup with a knife, the soup will probably get wasted more than drunk and the knife will get dirty for no reason. 

Many countries in Europe already use the idea of solving hunger with waste food through establishments of multiple food banks. The U.K is one of these countries. The problem with this approach, however, is that it distracts the general public from the core reasons behind why these individual problems exist. According to Clinton, who cites a paper by Martin Caraher, food banks only “provide some immediate respite to those who are hungry” while distracting the public from “the underlying issues of food insecurity” (Clinton, 2017). It is not enough to just feed the hungry through the waste of society. What should be done instead is an exploration on why food insecurity exists? And what are the politicians and other people in power doing about it? This idea not only puts a curtain on other larger hidden factors, but also makes food insecurity seem as a smaller issue than it is. Clinton further continues the argument made by Caraher by highlighting the message that is displayed in society when using food waste to solve hunger; instead of promoting education to reduce the wastage of food, this solution promotes the wastage of food to feed the hungry. Criticism of such kind brings a new lens to the idea by adding more complexities and nuances to it. What might seem as a simple and perfect solution might just have more layers to it. 

Though the problems mentioned are indeed real when utilizing this idea, it is largely agreed that food waste should be provided for free for anyone that wants to consume it as long as it is healthy for consumption. It should not be treated as a solution to world hunger, as it is not, but it should be given where it is needed. As long as these problems are not solved individually, which they might not be for a while unfortunately, they can be used to some extent to provide relief to one another.   

Works Cited

Clinton, Patrick. “Redistributing Food Waste Won’t Solve Poverty. But the Idea’s Not All Rubbish.” The Counter, 31 Jan. 2017, thecounter.org/redistributing-food-waste-wont-solve-poverty-but-the-ideas-not-all-rubbish/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2023.

UNEP. “UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021.” UNEP – UN Environment Programme, 4 Mar. 2021, www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021. Accessed 28 Jan. 2023.

United Nations. “Food.” United Nations, 2020, www.un.org/en/global-issues/food. Accessed 28 Jan. 2023.

World Food Programme. “5 Facts about Food Waste and Hunger | World Food Programme.” Www.wfp.org, 2 June 2020, www.wfp.org/stories/5-facts-about-food-waste-and-hunger. Accessed 28 Jan. 2023.