Author: Sarah Polaski

Locals face graver food insecurity in Bangladesh

The “2019 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC)” was released by the Global Network against Food Crises, whose members include the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme, and the European Union.

“In Cox’s Bazar the influx of refugees has aggravated the already-fragile situation of one of the poorest and most vulnerable districts in Bangladesh and the host populations face higher levels of food insecurity than the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar,” the report said.

Acute food insecurity ‘far too high’ UN agency warns, as 113 million go hungry

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and EU “Global Report on Food Crises 2019”, shows that the number going chronically-hungry has remained well over 100 million over the past three years, with the number of countries affected, rising.

According to the report, nearly two-thirds of those facing acute hunger come from just eight countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. And although there were 11 million fewer people believed to be in food crisis in 2018 compared with 2017, in 17 countries, acute hunger either remained the same or increased, the report indicates.

Hunger and the Wisconsin budget

In Wisconsin, 1 in 6 children live in poverty, and far too many families are struggling to put food on the table. Over 200,000 Wisconsin children live in poverty, yet we continue to rank last in the nation for offering school breakfast to children.

Food banks risk being ‘captured’ by corporate PR drive, say activists

The UK food bank movement has been warned it is in danger of being “captured” by big corporations and supermarket chains that promote high-profile partnerships with charities as effective ways of solving hunger and food waste.

A letter to the Guardian from 58 academics and campaigners criticises the way corporations and some charities frame food poverty as a logistical problem of how to distribute surplus food to people in poverty rather than a social justice issue.