Food shortages escalated to alarming levels And world hunger problem
Food wastage is also a major cause of malnutrition,
with 1.3 billion tons of food wasted annually worldwide, according to a report.
Ukraine-Russia war tops worldwide food shortages
Shocking report on June 7, World Food Safety Day
We must now acknowledge the fact that the interpretation of the imaginary world, the utopia we have dreamed of since our childhood, becomes more and more distant from us as we travel every step of the way. The hopes we have been pinning on the rapid pace of scientific progress are not coming true, all our estimates are proving to be wrong and all hopes for a secure future of the world have begun to go out. Are There is no doubt that the world has changed before Corona. The world before Corona was one in which dreams of a bright and secure future were dreamed of, high and lofty hopes were attached, but a small invisible virus justified the claims of scientific progress. In the same way, it has shattered many other illusions.
The sad and disturbing thing is that now the negative news is heard more and more in the world and every coming day is rising with a new test. Climate change and the food crisis are two of the most dangerous issues facing the world right now. The world is, to say the least, reaching the heights of agricultural science, but the reality is that the Russia-Ukraine war and the recent heat wave have disproved this claim of scientific progress.
Last November, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) issued a worrying report warning the world that food shortages were dangerous due to the epidemic of cod and ongoing conflicts in various countries. The threshold has increased. At present, about 45 million people in the world are suffering from severe food crisis. 43 countries are on the brink of famine. The number of such people is increasing every week. "We have crises like wars, climate change and code 19, which are rapidly increasing the number of people suffering from hunger," said David Beasley, a UN official who released the report. In 2019, the number of such people was 27 million, which has almost doubled in just two years, so it is certainly not a difficult task to photograph the future.
Yemen and Afghanistan, in particular, are among the countries facing food crisis. According to David Beasley, "man-made conflicts are also contributing to instability and fueling a devastating new wave of famine that has the power to engulf the entire world." In addition to Yemen and Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, Angola, Kenya and Burundi are on the brink of famine.
In recent days, a consortium of more than a dozen UN agencies and international aid groups working in Yemen released a report stating that in war-torn Yemen, in the second half of 2022 (July or December), 161,000 people will suffer from famine. Sally may face. This estimate is five times higher than the current figure. According to the report, out of Yemen's population of over 30 million, about 19 million people are unable to meet their minimum food needs during the months of June to December, including 2.2 million children and about 1.3 million women. ۔ They could be severely malnourished by the end of the year. Yemen, which imports most of its food and imports about 30 percent of its wheat from Ukraine, is at greater risk of famine.
According to the World Food Organization, a healthy person consumes about 70 kilograms of grain per month. Fruits and vegetables are another. According to the US Food Agency, one billion people suffer from hunger, while according to a United Nations report, about 11% of the people in the developing world do not have access to dinner. North African countries including Angola, Benin, Bostwana, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Central Africa, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan and Gabon, Latin American countries Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Guatemala, West Indies, South Asian countries Afghanistan, Countries like Nepal, Maldives and Cambodia are facing severe food crisis. In these countries, malnutrition is affecting the youngest children and breastfeeding mothers the most. According to a report by the World Health Organization, four and a half thousand children under the age of five die of starvation.
If we look at the ancient history and the medieval period, a long and painful picture of the human tragedy of famine emerges. Millions died of famine in Egypt and North Africa around 2000 BC. Africa, especially Egypt, has been plagued by food shortages for centuries. Twice a year in Egypt, crops were destroyed by torrential floods and rains in the Nile. The irony is that sandstorms and locusts attack differently. In the twentieth century, under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Russia built the Great Aswan Dam on the Nile River in Egypt, freeing Egypt from the flooding of the Nile River forever.
This dam is a model of modern construction and a great gift for the people of Egypt. If you read the story of the coming French Revolution in 1789, it was also the result of hunger and famine. From 1845 to 1849, there was a severe famine in Ireland due to insect attacks on potato crops, which killed more than one million people and forced more than two million to emigrate. The severe famine reduced Ireland's population by a quarter. Many countries suffered from famine during and after the First and Second World Wars. The people of the region we live in were well aware of the consequences of an unexpected drought, even in ancient times, and stockpiled so much grain that there was no shortage of food despite the lack of rain.
According to a British researcher, there were 17 famines in India in 2000 years, while there were 34 famines in the 120 years of the East India Company's greedy policies and selfish British rule. During the reign of Mughal emperors, taxes were reduced in times of famine, but the East India Company increased taxes in times of famine to 60%. According to Warren Hastings, Governor General of India, who was also the Governor General of Bengal, in the famine of 1770 Bengal (present day Bangladesh, West Bengal of India, Bihar and Orissa) about 10 million people died of starvation. Were one-third of the total population. Then, during the Second World War, in 1943-44, there was another terrible famine in Bengal in which about 3 million people lost their lives due to starvation. The famine was the result of the policies of Churchill, the "great" Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, because at that time Bengal was constantly exporting grain. Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is said to have deliberately left millions of Indians starving.
After the Japanese occupation of Burma, the import of rice was stopped and the British government restricted the supply of rice to its soldiers and other people engaged in war, which led to famine and death of millions. In the fifth and sixth decades of the twentieth century, the worst famine in the world hit China, killing between two and 30 million people in a span of two years. Although the Communist Party denies this, Hong Kong media reports are alarming. From 1962 to 1969, African countries were plagued by severe famine and food shortages that killed nearly 3.5 million people. Every year on June 7, World Food Security Day is celebrated under the auspices of the United Nations. While the food should be made healthy and useful and all the essential nutrients in it should be ensured. At the moment, when it comes to food shortages, the Ukraine-Russia war is one of the main factors contributing to the growing fear of famine. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has severely hampered food supplies around the world, as Ukraine, the so-called "European bread basket", is the largest supplier to Europe's needs for wheat, corn and other grains. Was the source.
Ukraine produces 16% of the world's maize production, with Ukraine and Russia providing about 29% of the wheat sold in world markets. The whole world used to buy wheat and grain from these two countries but now they are embroiled in war. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
Crops in China, the world's largest wheat producer, have been hit by flash floods and heavy rains. Pakistan has also been in the grip of a severe heat wave since March, in line with the predictions of environmental scientists. May-June temperatures are seen here in March-April due to which the wheat crop has dried up. Production of many fruits including mangoes has fallen below normal. Research has revealed that climate change has intensified the current heat wave 30 times faster than before the Industrial Revolution. Due to which crop production is definitely affected. On the other hand, fuel is becoming more expensive, food and drink are becoming more expensive and all these factors together are creating a new crisis. According to the World Food Program, 7 billion is urgently needed to end famine worldwide. That's according to the WFP
Food wastage is also a major cause of malnutrition. According to a report, 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted annually in the world. The cost of wasted food is 6 690 billion. Countries that lose food include both the rich and the poor. Our country is losing a total of 36 million tons of food annually. According to a survey, 870 kg of food is wasted daily in a hotel in Islamabad. Most food is wasted in weddings and other celebrations. On the one hand, millions of people are starving and on the other hand, tons of food is being wasted. Food and agriculture experts say the effects of climate change on the planet are growing, raising fears that food shortages, supply, and price stability could become major issues.
If food waste is controlled, a comprehensive agricultural policy is formulated, its focus is on food storage instead of food exports, and "pulses stocks" like China are established, then we can save our country from the threat of famine. The food sector was assigned to the provinces in the 18th Amendment, but no comprehensive policy has yet emerged.
The last food policy was formulated in 2018 but there was no time to implement these proposals. On paper, the government is not only aware of all the above mentioned issues but is also trying to solve them but the ground reality is that agriculture Pakistan's so-called agricultural commodity import bill is increasing every year. Wheat is being imported from abroad. The fact is that unless the government takes this issue seriously, the fear of famine will continue to hang over our head
