Last month, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division revised its estimate of the world’s population growth. Two years ago, in June 2017, a UN report had stated that the world population was projected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, with some 83 million people being added every year. These projections have now been revised downwards and the current estimate is that there will be an increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, reaching 9.7 billion in 2050. The current world population is 7.7 billion.
Even with the slightly lower estimate, there are still valid concerns about how the world as we know it will manage to fully accommodate nearly 10 billion people. And one of the major issues is food. Given that today there are some 821 million people who are classified as hungry, according to UN statistics released last year, plans to defeat world hunger need to move on to the next stage. But just what is the next stage?
In 2015, having fallen short of reaching the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which, it had been hoped, would improve the lives of the world’s poorest once achieved, the UN member countries — number 193 – set themselves a new task: 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to meet by 2030. Fashioned along the same lines as the MDGs, the SDGs are intended to transform the world and the second of these goals is for there to be zero hunger.
Well-meaning individuals, countries and international organisations have redoubled their efforts to combat hunger, some specifically with the goal’s target date in mind. But in the midst of this is the awareness that it is not enough to simply fill bellies, nutrition must come into play. Aside from the 821 million people around the globe classified as hungry, there appears to be an alarming number of others suffering from what is known as ‘hidden hunger’, a micronutrient deficiency that affects those whose diet is not nutritious.
People whose staple foods are things like rice, cassava, corn and potatoes and who cannot afford fruits and vegetables, or vitamin and mineral supplements are malnourished and can be afflicted with anaemia, stunted mental and physical development and blindness, compromised immune system, chronic disease and even death. Unfortunately, these manifest a lot in children whose diet is substandard. And while this occurs mostly in developing countries, it is not only, as some might want to believe, a so-called ‘third-world’ problem.
For way too long, the face of malnutrition has been a scrawny African or Asian child, dressed in rags and covered in dirt with a few flies buzzing around. In fact, malnutrition also looks like an obese North American or European child stuffing down fast food burgers or chicken and fries with sugary soda and playing with the toy the meal came with. This is in no way meant to point fingers at the fast-food industry. However, the facts would show that fast-food outlets are overrepresented in poorer communities/countries today, as opposed to markets offering fresh food, fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, even where there are markets, processed/prepared foods loaded with empty calories, salt and sugar in cans, boxes and attractive vacuum-sealed packages are more readily available and cheaper than fresh food.
Nevertheless, there is no denying that obesity is largely unrepresented in the media even though it is a huge issue (no pun intended). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally, malnutrition-affected children under the age of 5 number some 265 million. According to statistics it compiled last year, “52 million children under 5 years of age are wasted, 17 million are severely wasted and 155 million are stunted, while 41 million are overweight or obese.” And among adults, the WHO found, “1.9 billion are overweight or obese, while 462 million are underweight.” Go figure.
The fix for this, some believe, involves changing the approach to growing crops beyond the mere bread or food basket idea. The still fairly new buzz is all about biofortification, a process which comprises growing crops, particularly those used as staples, like rice, corn and cassava, but which are rich in micronutrients. The proponents of biofortification insist that it is nothing like genetic modification/engineering, as it is developed through conventional plant breeding and not in a laboratory.
Biofortification has been around since before 2002 and to date its pioneers claim to have developed seeds that grow into plants boosted with vitamins and minerals including iron and that there is evidence that vitamins or minerals from these biofortified foods make a difference in nutrition and health. To date, one such company, the US-based Harvest Plus, said it had released or was testing, “More than 290 varieties of 12 staple food crops… in a total of 60 countries… the largest number of crops are available or being tested in Africa.”
Is biofortification the answer to hidden hunger and world hunger? And if it is, would it not be more beneficial to make the process available to countries as opposed to selling them the seeds? The truth is that more likely than not, there is money to be made in biofortification and if that is the case then there will also be the issue of greed. Once greed is a factor, the zero hunger by 2030 goal could very well face peril as it will not be a “5 loaves and 2 fish” situation.
