When will food security be achieved for all?

Today is World Food Day, a reminder to reflect on humanity’s progress and failures. We often take pride in our scientific and technological advancements, believing that modern innovations have elevated our standard of living. Yet, despite these achievements, we still haven’t ensured that every human being on this planet gets enough to eat. Hunger remains an unresolved crisis.

According to the United Nations, about 8.2% of the global population continues to suffer from hunger. Every year, World Food Day is observed to raise awareness about hunger, malnutrition, and the importance of food security.

The suffering caused by hunger is most acute in Africa, where over 300 million people do not have access to sufficient food more than 20% of the continent’s population. Globally, about 28% of people lack proper nutrition. Compared to Africa, South Asia’s situation is somewhat better. In India, the proportion of people facing hunger dropped from 7.9% in 2022 to 6.7% in 2024, largely due to increased agricultural production and welfare schemes. However, political instability, internal conflicts, droughts, and poverty continue to push millions in African nations into food scarcity.

Though conditions have improved compared to past decades, it is unacceptable that, in an era of such development, millions still go hungry. Factors like floods, droughts, lack of resources, and erratic rainfall reduce food production and availability. But more often, the root cause of hunger lies in political failures poor governance and lack of commitment to people’s basic needs. In many countries, governments fail to act decisively to eliminate hunger, and leaders lack the will to ensure food security for all.

Food is a fundamental human need. If a government cannot meet even that, its legitimacy is questionable. Wherever such situations exist, it is as if governance itself is absent.

Climate conditions play a major role in food production. Floods, droughts, and heatwaves reduce crop yields. Outdated farming methods, poor-quality seeds, and adulterated pesticides further harm productivity. Inadequate storage and transport facilities disrupt food supply chains, leading to massive wastage. When crops don’t reach markets in time, they rot — while prices for available food soar, making it unaffordable for the poor. This, in turn, worsens malnutrition.

Lack of minimum support prices, artificial scarcity created by hoarders, and the government’s failure to regulate them all force the poor to bear the brunt. It is estimated that 30–40% of food produced worldwide is wasted. If this loss were prevented, millions of hungry people could be fed.

Food grains are stored in warehouses to ensure public food security, but due to poor infrastructure and negligence, food often rots in government godowns. Rice, wheat, and pulses lose quality because of inadequate care and often become unusable. Establishing modern storage systems, procuring crops directly from farmers at fair prices, and managing efficient distribution can help build a hunger-free society.

In India, the concept of food security must be viewed in two phases — before and after the 1960s. Inspired by Norman Borlaug, agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan ushered in the Green Revolution, transforming India’s economy and farming system. The introduction of high-yield wheat and rice varieties, along with fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and borewells, greatly boosted crop production. By the 1970s, India had become self-sufficient in food grains, reducing imports and ensuring food availability for its citizens. States like Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh benefited the most.

However, the Green Revolution also had negative consequences — soil degradation, overuse of water resources, challenges for small and tenant farmers, and loss of crop diversity due to monoculture practices. Still, most regard the Green Revolution as a positive milestone that helped India combat hunger.

Yet, even after six decades, hunger and malnutrition persist. Poverty, inequality, and inefficiencies in food distribution continue to haunt millions. Regardless of which political party is in power, governments have failed to eradicate hunger completely. Farmers face numerous obstacles between production and consumer delivery.

If governments genuinely commit to food security, they can achieve it — by preventing the sale of fake seeds and pesticides, promoting crop rotation, ensuring fair prices, improving transport and market access, curbing middlemen exploitation, and regulating exports and imports to match national needs. Guaranteeing nutritious food for all is not an impossible goal. It simply requires the will to make it happen.