Ending hunger is one of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The road towards achieving goal number 2 – to ‘zero hunger’ – by 2030 will require action across all levels of government.
The aim to ‘zero hunger’ ‘improve nutrition’ and ‘promote sustainable agriculture’ is not a distant problem for any society, though, rich or poor. It is on everyone’s doorstep and will require concerted efforts at a local, national and international level if it is to be eradicated.
Conflicts, a growing global population and scarcity of arable land is heaping ever greater pressure on a situation which is a long way past breaking point.
Action
The World Food Programme (WFP) is on the frontline finding innovative solutions to some of the world’s worst food security problems. It is spearheading a raft of projects, including using mobile technology to monitor food security among refugees in Africa, blockhain technologies to support displaced populations, and arguing for gender equality as a vital component in the fight to end hunger.
Collaboration and corporate action are – and will – play pivotal roles. Partnership projects like that between Germany’s internationally renowned life sciences and pharmaceutical company, Bayer, and the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) – to improve the yields of wheat crops by harnessing cutting edge tech – is a great example of global cooperation.
“The world population is growing, and arable land is limited. The crops of the future will have to deliver top performance, especially in wheat, which accounts for about 20% of the world’s food energy intake today. In our joint research work, we have set out to build a wheat canopy photosynthesis model that will help us identify ways of improving photosynthesis and yield,” said Jeroen Van Rie, Crop Efficiency Trait Research expert and Bayer’s lead scientist in the project.
The (WFP) Tech for Food project is one platform where companies can help give refugees, especially women and young people, the opportunity to earn money and achieve the financial freedom to buy food.
