Not a cent to be found anywhere in the house, not a morsel of food left to feed the hungry mouths, yet life goes on for a countless number of people in this world.Their struggle is endless and the pain in their hearts is as agonising as the hunger pangs gnawing at their stomachs. The hands that beg for a morsel of food are increasing around the world with more people falling into poverty.However, the million dollar question today seems to be not just “Who will feed a hungry mouth, but "Is there enough food to go around?"due to the deepening world food crisis.

Poverty and hunger are twin evils affecting millions of people around the world today. They are not two separate issues but two sides of the same coin. So, they need to be addressed as one problem in order to find redress for those victimised by it. The numerous forms of natural disasters have led to crop failure and a shortage of food in various parts of the world resulting in severe price hikes. And the poor who are already struggling to survive cannot cope ; they simply do not have the money to buy their daily food requirement and so, in most instances end up starving. Life becomes a vicious cycle for them because it's a case of ,"No money, no food. No food, no life".

Even though one section of the population is facing starvation and dying of hunger due to economic or natural disasters, another section has it good ; with an abundance of money and food.

The scales certainly do not seem to be balanced and it is time we focused on these twin evils with a serious commitment to at least minimise, if not rid the world of, the drastic impact they have on human life.

Let’s unite to fight poverty and hunger using the two UN designated days, World Food Day which falls on October 16 and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty which is on October 17 as the platform for our mission.

What can I, a mere child do to even minimise an issue of such magnitude which has a global impact, you may ask? The answer is ' plenty". Just as much as little drops of water help make a mighty ocean, every little effort made by even a child like you can help reduce the impact of this global crisis and bring some relief to the poor and hungry.. What can you really do to help? The first thing you can do and must do is “Stop wasting food”.

'Most of you are fortunate to not only have three square meals but also plenty of food to eat as and when you want. Yet, you do not appreciate what you have.You complain about the type of food that you have to eat and even throw away food,simply because you do not like it. Count yourself fortunate that you do not go to sleep hungry, unless of course you do so by choice.

Remember there are millions of people, especially children, who can only dream of the type of food you just throw away on a daily basis. So, waste not ,want not.Think of the poor children who cry themselves to sleep unable to bear the pangs of hunger or the hapless little ones dying in their parents arms due to lack of food in countries such as Ethiopia and Somalia. It is a fact that there is extreme poverty and a shortage of food in the world today.

The lives of the poor have only been made worse with the global food crisis. Those who were struggling earlier even without a food crisis are now being slowly suffocated;they are on the brink of death with the escalating food prices and dwindling financial resources.

If we do not act now the situation will only worsen, dragging many more into the vicious net of poverty.So, act today to end poverty and stop hunger.Stop wasting food, help the poor and save a life!

- Miru

**************

[Fast facts ]

What is Food Security?

The United Nations defines food security as "all people at all times have/having both physical and economic access to the basic food they need." For approximately 2 billion people throughout the world, this security is anything but guaranteed. Food security is a complicated issue that is susceptible to many forces.Insecurity results from climate change, urban development, population growth and oil price shifts that are interconnected and rarely confined by borders. It's an issue of global importance.

World hunger

* 925 million people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union combined.

*About 98 per cent of the world's undernourished people live in developing countries.

* Two-thirds of the world's hungry live in just seven countries: Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Where is hunger the worst?

* Asia and the Pacific: 578 million.

* Sub-Saharan Africa: 239 million.

* Latin America and the Caribbean: 53 million

* Near East and North Africa: 37 million

* 60 per cent of the world's hungry are women.

* 1 out of 6 infants are born with a low birth weight in developing countries.

* A third of all childhood death in sub-Saharan Africa is caused by hunger.

* Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger-related diseases.

Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase.

This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO ). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.

What are the causes of hunger?

What are the causes of hunger is a fundamental question, with varied answers. Poverty is the principal cause of hunger.

The causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself.

Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions, despite some progress that reduced "dollar--now $1.25-- a day" poverty from (an estimated) 1900 million people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the period.

Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased.

Courtesy: Internet

[International Day for the Eradication of Poverty - October 17]

* Rising food prices have pushed over 44 million people into extreme poverty and hunger since June 2010.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year o nOctober 17 since 1993, when the General Assembly, designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, particularly in developing countries - a need that has become a development priority.

At the Millennium Summit, world leaders committed themselves to cutting by half by the year 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty - people whose income is less than one dollar a day.

The theme of the observance this year is "From Poverty to Decent Work: Bridging the Gap". The main observance will endeavour to illustrate ways in which access to decent work and opportunities for learning and training can be developed with people in poverty, taking into account the existing efforts and experiences of youth, their families, and those working in the informal sector.

Testimonies will highlight the need to support initiatives and programmes, which are participatory and rights-based, creating a dialogue among different partners (families, workers, social services and employers). New approaches, which overcome exclusion and are environmentally, socially and economically advantageous will be highlighted.

World Food Day - October 16 Food prices - from crisis to stability

Price swings, upswings in particular, represent a major threat to food security in developing countries. Hardest-hit are the poor. According to the World Bank, in 2010-2011 rising food costs pushed nearly 70 million people into extreme poverty.

“Food prices--From crisis to stability” has been chosen as this year’s World Food Day theme to shed some light on this trend and what can be done to mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable.

On World Food Day 2011, let us look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of global society.