Cost to End World Hunger

The price to eradicate global hunger is $45 billion per year until 2030. Are the U.S.'s new plans big enough to help meet this goal?

cost of ending hunger

Source: The Los Angeles Times:

The price of hunger

On September 23, 2021, the United Nations held a Food Systems Summit. The goal of the summit was to gather individuals with different interests to discuss how governments, constituents and the private sector can improve food systems to fuel COVID-19 recovery and keep U.N. members on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, which include eradication of hunger, by 2030. As the world's largest foreign aid donor, with still only one percent of its total budget allocated for foreign aid, the U.S. can do more to lead the way for itself and other countries to reach the goal of $45 billion.

The U.S.'s Plan

The U.N. Food Systems Summit aimed to drive the actions of government leaders, citizens and private companies toward food system reform. At the summit, the U.S. announced its plans for reducing global hunger.

  1. The U.S. will contribute $10 billion to programming that improves food security and nutrition and grows global food systems that reach people in poverty.
  2. Over five years, the U.S. plans to contribute $5 billion to Feed the Future, which is a U.S. government program that aims to fight global hunger and increase food security.
  3. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is collaborating with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Eleanor Crook Foundation to contribute "$100 million over five years to tackle the root causes of malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries."
  4. USAID plans to invest "$60 million over five years" in research on food loss reduction strategies.
  5. USAID plans to contribute "$38 million over five years" to improve nutrition for communities around the world with the most need.

Problems with the U.S. Plan

The U.S. has significant plans for upcoming years to fight global hunger, but it can do more. The U.S. plans to commit a large sum of money toward global hunger initiatives; however, a lot of the planned funding will be spread out over five years. This will make it difficult to reach the $45 billion in funding per year that is needed to eradicate hunger. Also, points two, four and five are current plans and not binding commitments. Therefore, the U.S. may never fulfill its funding plans for these projects.

At the U.N. Food Systems Summit, organizations and individuals with different interests came together to advance discussion and plans for food system reform. The U.S. announced impressive plans, but the country can contribute more to help reach the goal of $45 billion per year until 2030 to end global hunger once and for all. The cost to end world hunger requires continued advocacy to hold the U.S. to its plans and to encourage the government to take further action to fully eradicate global hunger. Take a look at The Borgen Project's Action Center where people can make their voices heard in the fight to end global hunger!