Feeding the poor today and everyone on the planet tomorrow: What are the issues, and what can be done to avert a global food crisis?
The problem facing the world today is not so much a factor of supply as it is distribution.
Currently, there is enough food grown on the planet to offer everyone a nutritious diet. However, millions upon millions go hungry and millions still face death by starvation. Why is this happening?
It happens because while there are surpluses in one area of the globe, other areas find there is not enough food to feed their large masses.
Part of problem comes down to greed and corruption. There are those who, for the sake of power or personal aggrandizement, seek to control and take advantage of the distribution of food to those who need it. They use food as a weapon of control, whether it is through price which lines their pockets or access, to weaken those who are opposed to their control or rule.
Then, there is the problem of physical distribution: How do you get the food from where it is grown or produced to where it is needed. There are not enough airports, ports and roads to get the food from where it is plenty to where it is scarce. Even if the trucks, ships and planes were where they needed to be, there still would be the problem of getting access to those in need.
Until there is a global authority, recognized by all the governors of the world's people, there always will be strife, trade barriers, etc., that will stand in the way to the free flow of commerce and food to those who need it. Only such an authority would be able to coerce, police, enforce, or whatever you want to call it, the distribution of the food through such barriers. Such an authority does not exist now, nor will it in the foreseeable future.
In the future, if we are fortunate, the green revolution will continue and the ability of arable land to produce ever more quantities of the grains, fruits, vegetables and livestock that people need to subsist on.
It, however, will be man's ravenous appetite for power and control that will keep the world from feeding its people. It doesn't matter what economic system is installed, it will be those individuals seeking power and influence who will deny food to others. Until such time as that facet of human nature can be reined in, the poor and the hungry will afflict us, no matter how much we would hope it would be otherwise.