The public acknowledges logistical challenges, political obstacles, and systemic issues as key contributors to global food insecurity. Frustration is expressed over political negligence and inefficiencies, with calls for localized solutions rather than reliance on external aid. The crisis is exacerbated by specific political and social dynamics in affected regions like Gaza and Africa. There is a strong call for systemic change and international cooperation to address these deep-rooted issues.

Political Leaders

International Aid Organizations

Affected Regions

Your professor is correct that we produce more than enough food to feed everybody (though probably not "ten times the world's population"). To quote a 2019 [article](https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/10/1048452) from the United Nations:

&gt; Enough food is produced today to feed everyone on the planet, but hunger is on the rise in some parts of the world, and some 821 million people are considered to be “chronically undernourished”. 

This is true even within developed countries. The US, for instance, has unusually high rates of food insecurity. This is particularly true for families and children; a [study](https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305365) from the *American Journal of Public Health* found that "child poverty and food insecurity are much higher in the United States than in most of the other OECD countries." Reasons for this include "a national history of underinvestment in social programs, a lack of political will, and a culture of structural racism." There are, of course, things that could be done to combat the problem, some examples of which are listed in the aforementioned study:

&gt;Broadly, we recommend increasing investments in families with children, particularly low-income families. Our specific recommendations include increasing SNAP benefits, establishing additional benefits to support low-income families with young children, and implementing a universal child allowance.

Similar recommendations apply to developing countries. A 2019 [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5009630/) in the journal *Food Policy* found that a universal public distribution system was able to make a significant dent in poverty and hunger in certain areas of India. This has good implications for the efficacy of similar programs elsewhere.

In other words, there is enough food to feed everybody, and we could indeed see to it that this food made it to those who need it. It's just a matter of mobilizing the resources.

[deleted]

Other people have tackled the initial claim, so I will discuss this one:

&gt; Something about just taking all of that food and giving it to all the poor people sounds like it doesn't make any sense to me (I feel like it wouldn't work. Otherwise we would've done it by now. It can't be that easy). 

We do take food and give it to poor people. [The US alone](https://www.usaid.gov/food-assistance/faq) spends billions of dollars each year to ship food to poor countries. Starvation has fallen (until this year) to historic lows because the world has made it a priority that people don't starve to death (though undernutrition is still a huge issue for millions of people). Even in warzones, organizations like the World Food Programme have done amazing work in preventing people from starving. 

It isn't easy, even to non-warzones. I can only speak to projects which I tangentially worked with, but let's just say it isn't cheap or easy to get even a few tons of [CSB+](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fameal) to a landlocked country like Zimbabwe. But we do it. 

There's a number of reasons that the world has moved away from direct food aid though. First of all, it is incredibly inefficient, though some times necessary when there is no local food production. Secondly, since we're dealing with international supply chains, the food sent needs to be shelf stable. So there is a big emphasis on grains that have been mixed together to maximize nutritional potential. However, getting other important food groups like vegetables to these people is a lot more difficult.

But the biggest problem is that food aid only helps with the most basal goal of people not starving to death, while it hurts other development goals. When the primary source of food is the outside, then people on the inside can't compete and local production decays. So ideally food aid should only be provided in response to shocks such as conflict and drought. That's why there's been an emphasis on developing local markets, improving local production and even giving people vouchers to buy local food rather shipping food overseas. Nowadays, most USAID food aid is tied other programs. One that my old workplace did involved health and nutrition training programs for beneficiaries, building dams and dip tanks to help with irrigation and livestock mortality, creating community nutritional gardens and many other things. While women with young children did not have to participate to get aid, they were strong encouraged to. And the various training and infrastructure projects help people who aren't eligible for food aid as well.

mythoswyrm

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Well, it’s a huge logistical puzzle, for one thing. Obviously, the surplus of food being produced in the world isn’t being produced where people are starving. How are we getting the food from point A to point B? It’s worth noting that logistical issues are why we saw so much dumped milk and culled livestock alongside empty grocery shelves during the early days of the pandemic; the supply chains weren’t in place to get food where it needed to be. Those farms were accustomed to selling to commercial suppliers who in turn sold the products to restaurants and schools.

That the rate of [famine](https://ourworldindata.org/famines) has been declining over time, across all regions and [life expectancy](https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy) has been rising, again in all regions. Remaining places with famines and dire life situations tend to be ones like North Korea, Venezuela, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the issues with getting aid in are political ideology or widespread violence (e.g. aid shipments get hijacked by armed men), which are political problems, not technological.

ReaperReader

They’re working overtime to manufacture another stunted generation. But then again, perhaps malnutrition isn't a crisis for them - it's THE strategy.

telephonecompany

Eggs are also one of the easiest ways to ensure a part of the food for the children isn't taken away, something they're notorious for. A boiled egg is going to be a whole boiled egg, whereas with curries and gravies, they tend to take from the portions. Eggs also are a relatively cheaper, high protein, high nutrition option

beckthehalls

Vegetarianism is an easy target  ,look beneath the surface, they will cut corners in many more schemes, increase non tax revenues like toll charges , increase the price of petrol and alcohol.

All to sponsor the illogical DIRECT CASH TRANSFER scheme which gets them votes.

Unfair_Protection_47

Sunday Ho Ya Monday Roz Khao Anday

[School lunches are Brazil's secret — and delicious — weapon in halting hunger | NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2024/01/08/1222567378/the-pandemic-sent-hunger-soaring-in-brazil-theyre-fighting-back-with-school-lunc)

rishianand

Not just a man made crisis - this is a crisis made by casteist regressive men who want to exert their caste privilege. 

charavaka

Malnutrition is a strategy to exploit labor class. 

Mazdoor ko majboori may rakha jaata hai, taaki uski majboori se mazdoori li ja sake.

United-Extension-917

Apart from the fact that historically vegetarianism is an upper caste projection and identity. Depriving people of eggs is depriving them of the cheapest source of protein which the Indian diet is horrendously deficit in. 

Right wing people can sacrifice everything from economy to health insurance the name of some fanatical pursuit of a goal such as religion.

And then they deny the hunger index, snatching food from children, I want special punishment for this in hell

Ok_Outcome_600

Honestly, I get the government sucks. And should be strong, but it isn't and full of uneducated fucks. But with 90% of the population on some schemes,getting free food and all. Why do they keep having kids when they can't provide basic things like food. Why don't the people also become responsible.

21and420

HEALTH AND EDUCATION IS A STATE SUBJECT TO MANAGE. NOT THE CENTER.

No_Enthusiasm_5672

Thank you for this information. It is absolutely heartbreaking to hear about all of these factors leading to the forced starvation of gazans.

May I ask if any food is still being dropped by plane?

Low-Hotel-9923

But we aren’t being silent- we have been protesting and campaigning in naarm/Melbourne since a year and a half ago….

Intanetwaifuu

Are there numbers on how many have starved to death so far?

No-Literature-9387

Defiant-League1002

Every day I read the news and I am horrified by what is happening and feel completely helpless. I would like to donate money to an aid organisation/charity but I want to ensure that its actually used for the people in Gaza, I welcome any suggestions people might have.

runrabbitpurple

It is horrible what happens there. Is there a way out? 

I mean, I can understand that Israël wants the área secured. Hamas is a terrorist organization. On the other hand, what Israël is doing right now is out of proportion. You cannot ‘relocate’ over a million people. 

But leaving it like before is not a feasible option either. Gaza has been an outdoor prison for decades. Only a strong long lasting peace keeping independent force and the willingness of Israël that the Gazans deserve a better future than this. Both options are far away.

Strong-Feature-5761

Banned from the Jewish reddit group. Guess they didn't like my anti-Zionism
Post.

Vegan4life62

Israel won't stop until everything is dead .The Gaza strip is a threat to them and they are sick of their bullshit.

circacircabelmont13

This comment is to indicate whether a post like this one would apply to the wednesday rule moving forward: 

 Wed only

somebadbeatscrub

But don't worry everyone! Surely Bibi will save everyone by conquering the territory in whole and holding it for decades! It didn't work the first 5 times, but this time it totally will! C'mon everyone! Show up for reservist duty to go bring us to total victory!

(Bibi deserves to rot alone in a prison cell for the rest of his pathetic sad life...anything else is too good for him)

Inttegers

RaiJolt2

people are literally dying from starvation in Gaza. I don’t think we have seen this level of man-made starvation for decades.

redthrowaway1976

Kinda messed up I remember some folks in this sub were claiming months back there was no hunger crisis in gaza.

mymixtape77

AliceMerveilles

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Honestly tho they (all of Africa basically) can’t support their populations without free food getting flown in from the US.  They need to figure it out somehow and not just have 9 kids that eventually move to Europe

imverysuperliberal

Must we suffer these ChatGPT hand-wringing posts daily? Is there any way to auto-ban these walls of text?

frank3000

I don’t watch much tv. But on social media and other stuff no one talks about this crisis. Meanwhile everyone is flying the Ukraine flag.

I’m not even saying Ukraine is not a big deal. I just think it’s intentional/manipulated what gets attention.

a_theist_typing

No jews, no news, sadly. Hope Sudanese can find an end to suffering.

feelinggoodabouthood

Africa is such a shithole. Idk how they have had 200+ years of modern shit from around the world but still can’t get to be an agricultural society. 

Silly_Ad_4612

Global atrocities are being committed right now

There will be a reverberation

itsANOMALEEZ

That's awful. If only the most powerful and richest country on earth cared enough to help combat humanitarian disasters. Oh wait...

The freezing of US humanitarian assistance has forced the closure of almost 80% of the emergency food kitchens set up to help people left destitute by Sudan's civil war, the BBC has learned.

Aid volunteers said the impact of President Donald Trump's executive order halting contributions from the US government's development organisation (USAID) for 90 days meant more than 1,100 communal kitchens had shut.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7x87ev5jyo

https://theconversation.com/usaid-the-human-cost-of-donald-trumps-aid-freeze-for-a-war-torn-part-of-sudan-254215

CaptainVerret

In 2024, global food insecurity and child malnutrition reached alarming levels, with over 295 million people affected, driven by conflict, economic shocks, and climate extremes.

Global Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Crisis 2025

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