Save The Dying Soul; How to End Hunger by Kunle Adeleye

Hunger is the physiological need for food. No wonder, a popular adage once says that a hungry man is an angry man. Many people in some regions of the world still found it difficult to eat three times a day. UNICEF in 2011 puts the malnutrition in children under 5 at 24% in Nigeria; the number is expected to have raised due to the violence in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

Action Against Hunger performed a rapid screening of children under the age of five which indicated that some areas could be at above crises levels, with nearly 30 percent of 4,445 children screened suffering from Global Acute Malnutrition.

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Many people found in the cobweb of hunger find it difficult to overcome because of their inability to devise strategies in tackling the issue. Thank God that most Nations of the world are not relenting in combating the menace of the declining food security. Many developmental programmes are now developed. For example in Nigeria we had a programme called ‘Operation Feed the Nation’ in 1976 . The programme is meant to support supply of food in multitude. But the problem with most of these developmental programmes is that they are not based on long term approach, which thereafter has no positive impact on the people, particularly when there is a change in government.

The last administration also came up with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) to boost food production, attain import substitution and self sufficiency in some selected crops. It remained to be seen if the current administration of President Muhammadu Buharia will sustain the momentum.

At this crucial point, there are many ways we can save the dying soul if truly we want to address the declining food security;

• Develop a mindset towards opportunities at hand which can be farming or small scale business.
• Make a step forward towards adopting farming or small scale business. But it is advisable to go for small scale farming, in order to ensure quick solution to the issue of hunger.
• Maintaining mutual relationship between farming and market in order to ensure quick access to farm produce.
• Organizing seminar workshop and related developmental programmes that can shed light on how to end hunger. This seminars/workshops can cut across regional, national and international sphere.

Develop a mindset: it is pertinent to note that, whatever step one might want to take in life, it must begin with a determined mindset, in which those targeted goals will be achieved. The same thing apply to “ending world hunger” if individuals around the world can determine in their heart to combat the menace. When the will is there, there is nothing impossible to achieve. 

After developing a mindset, it is now necessary for every individual to make a step forward on how to engage in small scale farming for household consumption. Small scale farming simply means producing for family consumption, the produce might not necessarily meant for sale, as large scale farming permit.

One can engage in small scale farming with little or no capital, through planting vegetables of different types, one can also plant fruits seeds of different forms. This shows that one does not necessarily need to travel wide before one can eat, as various opportunities are within our corridor which we can utilize. These small holder farmers can also be empowered with high yielding seedlings, farm inputs, training and adopting new farming techniques to enhance their production.

Having engaged small scale farmers, the next thing is to create and maintain mutual relationship between farming and market. Most farmers, small or large scale lose their harvested farm produce due to lack of linkage to the market. There are many factors responsible for this which includes logistics and storage. If farmers are given quicker access to market, the can get their return on investment and better the lives of their families.

Lastly, it is pathetic to note that, combating world hunger requires team work, team spirit and artistic spirit, so that those who have enough can give to those who have few or nothing. Even from biblical angle, God expect everyone to treat his/her neighbour as their self. Also all the sector of the economy should be involved in the process of addressing the declining food security, as success cannot be achieved in isolation. Likewise more innovative ideas should be encouraged among the world populace.

In a nutshell, it is high time for you and I to save the world populace from the declining food security. Take a faithful step today as tomorrow may be too late. This is a clarion call on youths especially agriculturists around the world to dedicate their energy to innovative ways to improve food production like the first recipient of Nobel food price;  Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. He dedicated youth to ending world hunger, he also conceived the World Food Prize which has honored outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food throughout the world.