Where we are

There are about one billion people around the world who are malnourished. According to the UN, there are 33countries that will need external food assistance as a result of local food shortages. The reasons for this are crop failures, conflict, and high food prices.

The issue of conflict is one beyond the scope of this site, although there are other groups who focus on this issue (see the How We Get There section on the Basic Needs Overview page). The other two issues, however, are the core of what we are focussing on on this website: you either have money to buy food or you have food grown where you are. The issue of high food prices is a result of lack of access to Microfinance for both the consumer to be able to buy food and for the producer to be able to keep costs down.

The second issue of crop failures is likely a result of one of the three factors we talk about as being necessary for access to local food: good soil, good water, and appropriate plants. Any number of things could have contributed to these crop failures, from having crops not adapted to the local climate or soil, to water or soil nutrient or toxicity problems, to disease. Although a decrease in crop diversity that has been happening over the course of the last few decades is unlikely to have helped.