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With all the agricultural knowledge of today, there should never be a global food crisis. Although, rice is a staple and filling, it is not enough in itself to feed the body all the nutrients needed to function properly, mentally and physically, and rice appears to be the food that many starving nations depend on.

There is plenty of food for the entire planet right now. Some of the poor just do not know of the many non-profit organizations that will provide them with food unless they happen to hear about it from another. Most of this food is donated by the grocery and bread stores, but, some is brought in by people who have, themselves, grown fresh vegetables and fruit. This certainly means there is an abundance when you have grown or bought more than you can use.

Some of these organizations are advertising now, but, how many poor people read the paper?

In starving foreign countries where there is military rule, we all know where food donated to these countries is going. The civilians of that country have not a chance in the world of sharing and I firmly believe that the children were the intent of this aid.

As long as there are seeds, there will be plants, and if these plants are treated with nourishment and care, there will be food. If people have not been educated, how could they know where the food originates?

A garden of beans, squash, tomatoes, potatoes or whatever you choose to plant can be done in a 4' x 5' piece of soil. It was done by my daughter-in-law and me. We reaped many green beans, running the vines upward on cone-shaped wire, tomatoes galore that we grew in tubs, and potatoes, however; the squash did not do too well as they should be planted on a hillside.

We saved the seeds for this very garden the year before, drying them in various places. Save seeds for planting the following year and repeat this year after year; however, if you are homeless, there would be no way for you to do this. But, this can be resolved also.

A community garden was popular in the state where I lived most of my life. In a garden like this, each person brought a plant or seeds and when they bore fruit, it was shared with anyone who needed or wanted it. It had no fence around it, was in a pretty bad section of town and the marvel of it all, no damage was done to it. It was treated with respect and everyone left some for the other person.

The starving people in foreign countries need to be educated as well as the starving people in this country. The day might come when there will be no food and the tiniest of seeds will be as treasured as the seeds that we kept that year.

Missionaries do not only teach the Bible, they teach people how to live, help build houses for them, and help with food.

If only these poor countries could receive foreign help with medicine and food, to put them in good mental and physical conditions, they could be taught to plant different types of food and there would be plenty for all of them. Granted, they wouldn't have the fertilizer, or uptown farm equipment that the U. S. uses, but, they do have animals to pull plows and animal dung is a good source of nutrients for plants.

I've seen people plow with a hand held plow and if that is not determination, I don't know what is. That is the intent to survive. It takes hard work to survive and if you have a family, it takes even harder but, it can be done because I have seen it done.

Learn more about this author, VOLECIA PLAFCAN.
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