The right to food is so important that it was included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as early as 1948. In the wake of the Millennium Goals, in 2016, through the "Zero Hunger" goal contained in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the United Nations declared its intention to put an end to all forms of hunger and malnutrition by 2030. The heads of state and government and the UN agencies have been discussing hunger and malnutrition for decades: identifying causes, proposing solutions, allocating money, yet the situation only worsens.
According to the 2018 United Nations report on food security and nutrition, hunger affects 821 million people worldwide, which is equal to 11% of the world's population. The figure is increasing compared to the past due to the proliferation of violent conflicts and climate-related shocks. More than half of those suffering from hunger are located in Asia, but serious problems of food insecurity and malnutrition also persist in Africa and Latin America.
Hunger stems from the inability of men and women to have access to resources to produce enough food for their survival or to earn enough money to buy it.
Yet the world has enough resources to feed the current population: so why is hunger still a daily reality for millions of people.
For ActionAid, hunger is the "product" of improper choices by companies, governments and international organisations, as well as a lack of political will. Harmful policies, which consider food a mere market product and not a right, mean that the hungriest and the poorest are, incredibly, farmers and agricultural workers.
To combat this situation effectively we must: remove existing inequalities relating to the control of land, water, pastures, forests and seeds; counteract violations of the rights of farmers and workers; ask for more public investment in agriculture and rural development.