The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization set a goal in 1996 to halve the number of hungry people in the world by 2015. There are currently 842 million hungry people worldwide, with the majority living in India, sub-Saharan Africa, and China. Most of the hungry population lives in areas dependent on agriculture. Supporting agriculture through access to training, markets, and farm inputs like fertilizer and improved seeds would be a more sustainable and cost-effective solution to hunger than shipping food aid. Some food aid would still be needed for emergencies like natural disasters, wars, and drought.

1. Food Aid and
Hunger Relief
Kate Adams
FS HN 342

2. Halving Hunger
 The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) set a goal in 1996 to half the number of hungry people
in the world by 2015

3. Where are the hungry people?
 842 million people total
 221 million in India
 204 million in sub-Saharan Africa
 142 million in China
 156 million in Asia and the Pacific
 53 million in Latin America
 39 million in the Near East and North Africa

4. Agriculture is Key
 75% of the hungry live in areas where agriculture is the
backbone of economic activity
 Steering resources to agriculture helps increase
productivity, employment opportunities, and access to
food.

5. A Sustainable Solution
 Instead of sending more food to these countries it would
be much cheaper to “provide farmers of the developing
countries with access to training, markets and to farm
inputs such as fertilizer and improved seed.” (Sanchez)

7.  Supporting agriculture would be the utilitarian thing to do
in this situation. If the people could produce their own
food they would be much better off and it would help a
greater amount of people.
 They can grow food to feed themselves and sell the
surplus, which in the end would benefit more people than
just shipping food across the world.

8. Some aid still needed
 Food aid would of course still be needed
 Natural disasters
 Wars
 Drought
Shipping food from the United States to different parts of the
world is extremely expensive and should only be done in
desperate times.

9. Works cited
 Sanchez, Pedro. “A smarter way to combat hunger.”
Nature 458 (2009): 148.
 Shetty, Prakash. “Achieving the goal of halving global
hunger by 2015.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 65
(2006): 7-18.