Hundreds of millions of people across the world experience hunger on a daily basis, according to a representative of the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP).
Hila Cohen, the deputy head of the WFP innovation accelerator programme, was among the speakers at the Global Economic Summit in Co. Kerry this week.
“One in 10 people on the planet are hungry, so they go to bed not only with not enough calories, but I think it’s also important to mention the nutrition that is not sufficing them.
“We have more than 309 million people dealing with acute hunger, meaning that they’re really in a state of distress. They cannot access enough food for a day or two, if not more.
“Pre [Covid-19] pandemic, the numbers were 200 million less. So, there’s ripple effects of the pandemic, the inflation that also spiked the numbers of people really in distressing situations,” she said.
Over the past two years, the WFP fed around 300 million people around the world through its humanitarian projects.
“We bring our food to some of the most complex places on the planet. We’re first responders in some of the biggest crises that you will see whether it’s manmade conflict or climate shocks,” Cohen said.
The Irish government has pledged €105 million for the WFP for 2025 to 2027, which is a 40% increase on the funding made under the previous three-year period.
Food prices
Hyperinflation is among the challenges around food supply, with five countries currently grappling with 500% inflation on food prices, while around 20 are faced with 100% inflation.
“These are already the countries that are struggling. These are already the poorest people on the planet, dealing with an even more challenging situation.
“You have countries that are dealing with conflict and on the other side, dealing with climate shocks. This double burden really makes it complex,” Cohen said.
She added that food insecurity can also create local tensions and lead to conflict.
“We need to look at how we address this challenge in a new way as well. How do we work with governments? How do the different players on the ground collaborate and also how we engage the communities?
“When we solve the biggest problems on the planet, like hunger, you need to be very user centric,” she said.
Cohen told the conference that between the 1960s and 1980s the plant experienced around 70 climate shocks. However, in the past 20 years there has been in excess of 500.
She said that this is disrupting “a very traditional industry”.
“Farmers are used to traditional farming cycles and now if you have suddenly a situation where there’s more droughts or torrential rain, you’re not only affecting that farmer in that one moment, you’re affecting their income in the upcoming years because of one climate shock.
“If you have multiple climate shocks or differing ones, it also means that the way that the farmers need to do their work changes and the way you need to help them solve the problem changes as well,” she said.
UN
In August 2015, the UN established an innovation accelerator programme with the aim of supporting and scaling innovation which addresses hunger and other UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The programme enables works with startups to develop through boot camps and financial grants of up to $100,000.
This has created a “bridge” for these young companies to work with the WFP in 100 countries around the world.
Cohan told the Global Economic Summit that there is more public awareness around global food challenges.
“In different generations, you see these topics coming more and more into discussion,” she said.
She noted an increase in startups and established companies such as Google and John Deere seeking to work with the WFP to solve problems.