For more than half a century, the global food system operated with a singular mantra: Produce more food.  At the time of the Green Revolution in the 1950s, much of the world was in the throes of hunger as a result of the Second World War. The industrial agriculture model pioneered in places like the United States — monocultures of improved crop varietals fueled in their growth by chemical fertilizers — was unleashed on the world.

That system did its intended job well, driving global hunger numbers down. But today, its legacy has created new challenges of its own, including land degradation and an explosion of non-communicable diseases resulting from diets rich in carbohydrates but low in important micronutrients.

Today, too many people are at the mercy of, not willing participants in, the global food system. In a world that produces almost $90 trillion in wealth each year, some forty-two million people in dozens of countries face the looming prospect of famine. As many as eight hundred and eleven million people go to bed hungry each night,  and a third of humanity does not have access to adequate food.

Good food nourishes and sustains us. Hunger stunts economies, robbing entire generations of opportunities to fulfill their potential. It almost always affects people who are already suffering from pervasive poverty and inequality. In this way, hunger is the byproduct of injustice and unfairness as well as a driver of these forces. Addressing global hunger is the equity challenge of our lifetime and the central issue in debates around gender, Indigenous peoples' rights, and climate change.

Globally, women are two-thirds more likely than men to report food insecurity, despite providing the bulk of agricultural labor in many countries, often farming land they cannot legally own. Because of prevailing gender norms in many contexts, women often eat after the men and boys have been fed. Women often eat last, eat less, and eat worst in their households. Hungry girls are less likely to attend school, more likely to marry early, and face higher risks of sexual exploitation.

Read the full article about global hunger equity by Barron Segar at PhilanTopic.