OneWorld.net (U.S.)

We consider it intolerable that more than 800 million people throughout the world, and particularly in developing countries, do not have enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs. This situation is unacceptable. - World Food Summit Declaration, Rome, 1996

© Mercy CorpsEighteen-year-old Priviledge had to drop out of school because her parents could no longer afford school fees. It was either that or there wouldn’t be enough food to feed her five other siblings, some of whom were showing signs of malnourishment. Many of her classmates who stayed in school were only eating one meal per day—often little more than tomatoes or cabbage grown in their family’s vegetable plot.

Priviledge’s story is increasingly common in the countries of southern Africa where, especially in rural areas, a “combination of crippling drought, abject poverty, economic collapse, and high rates of HIV/AIDS has devastated communities and led to widespread food shortages,” according to the international humanitarian group Mercy Corps.

In Priviledge’s town, Mercy Corps is working with local partners to provide a daily ration of food for school-age children and trying to strengthen farmer livelihoods in the country’s rural communities. But, in the larger context—and in a world where there is enough food for everyone—why is hunger still so pervasive and how can agricultural policies make a difference?

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