The article “So Much Food. So Much Hunger.” in Sunday’s NY Times could not be more relevant to the daily buzz at AJWS around Fighting Hunger from the Ground Up. In fact, here at AJWS, we’ve been joking about how one of us must have been the article’s ghost writer.“How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?” the article’s author asks. The answers are, indeed, complex and involve everything from American farm politics and African corruption to war, poverty, climate change and drought, which is now the single most common cause of food shortage on the planet. We very much agree with David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, who boiled down the cause of global hunger to “a lack of give a damn” and “political neglect.”
While the global hunger crisis remains numbingly grim, we are hopeful that apathy and neglect can be halted at full stop. At a July summit meeting, President Obama and other leaders of industrialized nations pledged $20 billion for agricultural development in poor countries. This is great news. AJWS is doing its part, too, by supporting over 80 grassroots organizations on three continents that are addressing the root causes of hunger and developing sustainable solutions by teaching farmers to grow food organically, enabling indigenous communities to advocate for their land and water rights, and empowering landless women to access land and seeds to provide for their communities.
With the Jewish New Year upon us, and Yom Kippur fast-approaching, please consider doing your part as well. Learn how you can take action in AJWS’s campaign to end global hunger in our lifetime.
