hunger
Drought and displacement put Nigeria in crisis
Nigeria, Africa’s largest and most-populous country, needs help feeding refugees fleeing armed conflict in the northeastern corner of the country, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a quarterly report on food insecurity around the world.
Anti-hunger groups criticize House child-nutrition bill
Ahead of a House Education Committee vote today on child-nutrition programs, anti-hunger groups said the bill, written by Republicans, includes a test of a block grant program that removes most federal control over which children receive free meals, and how often the meals are provided.
Worldwide migration to cities shaping the future of agriculture
As the global population zooms toward an estimated 9.7 billion people at mid-century, a 34-percent increase in 35 years, more and more of them will live in cities. "By 2050, 66 percent of the world's people are expected to live in cities, fueling unprecedented demand for food," says a report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
World must produce 70 percent more food by 2050 if we don’t cut ‘food gap’
The world is facing a 70-percent “crop gap” between the calories available in 2006 and the expected caloric demand in 2050, says a report out by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Community eligibility cutback would hit 7,000 schools
In only its second year of availability nationwide, more than 18,000 schools in high-poverty areas are utilizing the Community Eligibility Provision to provide free breakfast and lunch to all of their students, a total of 8.5 million pupils.
California farmworkers face high rates of food insecurity, obesity
Nearly half of the farm workers in Yolo County, California, face food insecurity, three times the rate of farm workers in the rest of California and in the United States, says a new report out by the California Institute for Rural Studies (CIRS).
World Bank report on triple burden of malnutrition
In a report released in conjunction with its annual meeting, the Word Bank lists three related food challenges - hunger, obesity and deficiencies in vitamin and mineral intake. "Despite significant progress, 795 million people still are not getting the minimum dietary energy needs," said the report.
Reversing desertification through livestock grazing
The troubles for the villagers of Sianyanga, Zimbabwe, began in the late 1980s, when the Nalomwe River, which watered the village, went dry. Soon, the shade trees died and the villagers' cattle herds suffered for lack of water and forage, says a Pacific Standard story produced in partnership with FERN.
Time runs out for many on food stamps
As part of the 1996 welfare reform law, unemployed adults without children are limited to three months of food stamp benefits in a three-year period, unless they live in an area with high unemployment.
Waiting for the next spike in global food prices
Less than a decade after a worldwide surge in food prices that began in 2008, grain bins are bursting around the globe. But the risk isn't over, says Quartz, pointing to a meeting called by the Council on Foreign Relations. A majority of the economists and policymakers at the session "believe food prices will spike again within five years."
Report: extreme hunger fell by half worldwide between 1990 and 2015
"Extreme poverty, child mortality, and hunger all fell by around half between 1990 and 2015," thanks to the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000, says the International Food Policy Research Institute in its 2016 Global Food Policy Report.
U.S. bread basket, meet the Protein Highway of North America
Officials from Canada and the United States will launch the Protein Highway initiative this summer to brand six U.S. states and three Canadian provinces as the region with potential to become the world's biggest supplier of protein, says the Pierre (SD) Capital Journal.
Food shortage worsens in South Sudan after harvest
Nearly a quarter of the population of South Sudan, some 2.8 million people, urgently needs food assistance "and at least 40,000 people are on the brink of catastrophe," say three UN agencies.
One-third of food-stamp households go to food pantries
USDA data show that 32 percent of households receiving food stamps "still have to visit a food pantry to keep themselves fed," says the NPR blog The Salt.
Crop failures possible across southern Africa
One of the strongest El Niño weather patterns in half a century is bringing the second consecutive year of low rainfall and high temperatures to southern Africa, humanitarian agencies report. They warn that food shortages could be the worst since a 2002-03 food crisis.
West Virginia tops school breakfast scorecard; Utah has worst score
In an annual report on school-breakfast outreach, the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center said West Virginia did the best job in the country in reaching low-income children, and Utah did the worst.
Food and water shortages for 100 million people worldwide
Nearly 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America face food and water shortages as well as vulnerable to diseases such as the Zika virus, says the Guardian, summarizing reports by international aid agencies and governments.
Food insecurity now affects half the population in Yemen
Yemen is "a forgotten crisis," says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which says the number of food-insecure people has grown 12 percent in the past six months due to armed conflict and restrictions on food imports.
War devastates agriculture in Gaza
Two-thirds of the cropland in the Gaza Strip has been damaged by shelling, razing, and vehicle traffic since armed conflict began a year ago in the territory, said two UN agencies. The escalating agricultural damage exacerbated a food shortage, said the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Center.