Hunger in the World

Avery’s implication--left unchallenged--is that a worldwide surplus of food solves world hunger. That simply is not true.

In reality, there is a huge reservoir of nearly 500 million people around the globe, due to inadequate production, distribution and storage of food in Third World nations.

Consider:

--While American farmers will harvest another bumper crop this year, farmers in many Third World countries will not produce enough food to provide for their own. And because transportation is, in most cases, too expensive or non-existent, their governments will not be able to make good use of available surpluses.

--While U.S. grain elevators are already half full, more than one-third of all Third World crops will be lost due to inadequate storage, a problem that hampers distribution of emergency food aid as well.

--And while farmers in the United States must leave as much as 35% of their lands to fallow in order to receive government subsidies, farmers in Sudan, Mozambique and Afghanistan must leave their farms altogether: Civil war in these countries has disrupted food production and distribution to the extent that nearly 4 million people are at risk of starvation.

In my years of work here and abroad with World Vision, I have learned that the only real answer to world hunger is long-term development--helping people become self-reliant. In order to accomplish that goal, the involvement and commitment of the American people is needed now more than ever.

KENNETH WATERS

Director of Public Information

World Vision

Monrovia