Number 5, December 2012
Development Works
Bread for the World Institute provides
policy analysis on hunger and strategies to
end it. The Institute educates its network,
opinion leaders, policy makers and the
public about hunger in the United States
and abroad.
Snapshot
Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World
• Local farmers, most with less
than five acres of land and little
or no animal or mechanical
power, bear most of the
responsibility for feeding people
in developing countries. Enabling
small-scale farmers to increase
their productivity is essential
to reducing hunger or even
maintaining recent progress.
Martha Togdbba of Kpaytno, Liberia, grows vegetables, including tomatoes and chili peppers. She irrigates her small farm by carrying a watering can to and from a nearby stream.
Farmers: The Key to Ending
Global Hunger
Every year, U.S. humanitarian assistance, such as food aid, eases the hunger
of millions of people who have fled natural disaster or conflict. These are clearly
emergencies. But worldwide, most hungry people are hungry or malnourished as
a fact of their everyday lives. Chronic hunger and malnutrition sap the strength
of adults trying to earn a living and the potential of children trying to learn.
The 2012 Africa Human Development Report identifies two areas of bias as
“principal factors in explaining Africa’s food insecurity”—a bias toward towns
rather than rural areas and a bias toward men rather than women.
After decades of neglect in favor of developing manufacturing or extractive
industries, agriculture in developing countries has begun to receive much-needed attention. A big part of solving chronic hunger is enabling and equipping
small-scale farmers to be as effective as possible. It’s true that the world produces
1
• More than 75 percent of the
world’s hungry people are
small-scale farmers or landless
laborers. Fortunately, growth
in the agriculture sector is very
effective in reducing poverty.
• Gender bias is a principal cause
of hunger since women produce
well over half of the global food
supply and are more likely to
spend additional income on food.
• Nonetheless, few female farmers
own the land they work, have
the authority to make decisions
about crops and livestock, or
control their own incomes. New
tools such as the Women’s
Empowerment in Agriculture
Index help track progress toward
gender equity.