Opinion: How to end hunger in the world's poor countries

Transcription

1 Opinion: How to end hunger in the world's poor countries By Bjorn Lomborg, Project Syndicate, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 528 A couple of students throw away most of the hot meal lunch served at Washington Prep High School in Los Angeles, California, March 7, Photo: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/MCT OTTAWA, Canada One-fourth of all the food in the world is wasted each year. If that waste is cut in half, the world could feed an extra billion people. It is time to make hunger a problem belonging to the past. Today, 1 in every 9 people on the planet still goes to sleep hungry. That number is about 795 million people. Despite the large number of hungry people in the world, there has also been much progress. Over the last 25 years, the world has fed an extra 2 billion people. Poor countries have almost cut the number of hungry people in half. However, the challenge is to continue the progress. Poor Countries Need Better Roads Many people think food waste just happens in the kitchen. In rich countries, people do throw out a great deal of food from the kitchen. Richer people can afford to throw away food they don't want to eat. In poor countries, however,

2 people waste very little. Most of the waste happens much earlier than the kitchen. For example, it happens at the farm when birds and rats eat the crops. It can also happen when the food spoils during transportation. There are solutions for these problems. However, these solutions are used mainly in rich countries, and not much in poor countries. I work at a research group called the Copenhagen Consensus Center. We try to find solutions to problems. We asked researchers and experts to consider the best ways to end hunger in poor countries. They suggested two things. The first is to improve roads and transportation. If there are no proper roads connecting fields to markets, farmers cannot easily sell their extra vegetables and fruits. Therefore, the food will spoil and go to waste. Improving roads and railroads also allows fertilizer and other materials to reach farmers. These materials will improve their crops and help farmers grow more. Spending More Money On Research Researchers estimate that cutting food waste would save $239 billion over the next 15 years. This would make food much more affordable for the poor. By the year 2050, better roads could mean that 57 million people would no longer be at risk of hunger. Most of the people helped would be in the poorest countries of the world. Secondly, the researchers suggest an even better way to spend money. There should be more money spent on food research rather than just preventing food waste. Today, only $5 billion is spent each year on research to improve the seven biggest global food crops. If we increase that to $88 billion, it would save much more money later. Research can help fight disease in certain crops. It can help find ways of growing more food for less money. Food will become more plentiful and affordable for everyone. For every $1 that is spent on research, it would create $34 in benefits. Hunger is a very difficult problem. It's even harder to solve when it's worsened with other problems like bad weather and wars. However, we should still try to end hunger. As I have recommended, this will take spending money on better transportation and more research on food.

3 Quiz 1 Which statement BEST represents the author's point of view in the article? The world's hunger problem can never be completely solved. The world's hunger problem is caused only by wasting food. The world's hunger problem is getting smaller but there is more work to do. The world's hunger problem affects only a small number of people. 2 What is the purpose of the following paragraph in the section "Poor Countries Need Better Roads"? I work at a research group called the Copenhagen Consensus Center. We try to find solutions to problems. We asked researchers and experts to consider the best ways to end hunger in poor countries. to show why the author believes hunger is a problem to show how the author got the information in the article to show that the author is an expert on world hunger to show which information in the article is most important 3 Which paragraph in the section "Spending More Money On Research" BEST supports the claim that more money should be spent on food research? 4 Which of the author's claims does the following sentence from the article support? For every $1 that is spent on research, it would create $34 in benefits. Hunger is a big problem in poor countries. More money should be spent on studying food. Hunger is more easily helped in rich countries. More money should be spent on improving roads in poor countries.

4 Answer Key 1 Which statement BEST represents the author's point of view in the article? The world's hunger problem can never be completely solved. The world's hunger problem is caused only by wasting food. The world's hunger problem is getting smaller but there is more work to do. The world's hunger problem affects only a small number of people. 2 What is the purpose of the following paragraph in the section "Poor Countries Need Better Roads"? I work at a research group called the Copenhagen Consensus Center. We try to find solutions to problems. We asked researchers and experts to consider the best ways to end hunger in poor countries. to show why the author believes hunger is a problem to show how the author got the information in the article to show that the author is an expert on world hunger to show which information in the article is most important 3 Which paragraph in the section "Spending More Money On Research" BEST supports the claim that more money should be spent on food research? Paragraph 8: Today, only $5 billion is spent each year on research to improve the seven biggest global food crops. If we increase that to $88 billion, it would save much more money later. Research can help fight disease in certain crops. It can help find ways of growing more food for less money. Food will become more plentiful and affordable for everyone. For every $1 that is spent on research, it would create $34 in benefits.

5 4 Which of the author's claims does the following sentence from the article support? For every $1 that is spent on research, it would create $34 in benefits. Hunger is a big problem in poor countries. More money should be spent on studying food. Hunger is more easily helped in rich countries. More money should be spent on improving roads in poor countries.