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U.N. Goal: Conquer World Hunger By Helping Farmers

U.N. Goal: Conquer World Hunger By Helping Farmers

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization helped Somalia turn around its 2012 famine in just six months and it can help other African countries eradicate hunger, according to its director, Jose Graziano da Silva.

Eliminating world hunger by 2025 is possible if world leaders commit to it – especially in Africa, where hunger statistics are most dire – Graziano da Silva said while in New York to launch 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, according to an ABC report.

Many family farms in Africa don’t produce enough to eat, he said. Introducing known best practices to them could help solve world hunger while saving money on transportation costs.

“We are not talking about sending a man to the moon or something that complicated,” he said. “We have the technology. We have the expertise. We have the things that we need to do it.”

Graziano outlined three key factors in the ABC report that must take place to make the goal possible.

One is the commitment by world leaders and individual leaders of each country. The president or prime minister must take the lead, he said, because eliminating hunger requires changes to the country’s agriculture, water supplies, health, nutrition and food storage.

The second is improving agricultural performance and access to food. In some cases, areas have stopped producing a food they previously grew and had available. In other cases they cannot access the food or cannot pay for it. The waste of food – due to poor storage, poor transportation or throwing away large portions – also must be controlled, he said.

The third is to improve the quality of the food. Malnutrition is seen in both low and high-income families because of fast food and unhealthy diets, Graziano da Silva said.