Today is International Day for Eradication of Poverty that will definitely resonate with many. One wonders who comes up with the idea of dedicating a day to a certain subject or goal but incidentally, yesterday was World Food Day and both subjects are intertwined. So, when talking about poverty eradication, the first thing that comes to mind is material poverty. But as this year’s theme suggests, the focus is on ending learning poverty so that a child is able to read and understand by the age of ten. But they first need to be fed. Hunger is the main cause of poverty since it is difficult to sleep on an empty stomach to get the energy to work the next day. Numbers have been a bit kind to Africa in the last few years as it has seen poverty levels reduce significantly, from 54 per cent in 1990 to 41 per cent in 2015. A lot of ambitious plans have been drawn up to end poverty, or at least reduce it significantly, but that will just be akin to taking one step forward and two backwards if the issue of food security is not addressed. It does not make any sense that 1.3 billion tonnes of food, a third of the world’s production, is wasted every year when there are hungry people everywhere. Why can’t all the Nobel economic and scientific laureates come up with practical solutions instead of empty declarations of “international day” for this and that? Why not follow in the Netherlands’ footsteps that reclaimed most of its land from the sea and is now a major agricultural producer despite having less farming space than many? That should be food for thought.
