It usually seems rhetorical to ask about the importance of food and nutrition or the disadvantages of hunger. Life itself revolves around nutrition which is the first determinant of health. The essentiality of food and the effects of hunger prompted the inclusion of “zero hunger” as part of the SDGs by the United Nations as the 2nd goal and with 8 targets. These targets comprise numerous strategies to tackle the crisis of hunger in the world, making sure that by 2030, there is an end to hunger or at least a tremendous step achieved in culminating the issues of hunger.
In as much as this is a great undertaking to reduce hunger in the world, informed efforts exist to cause the achievement of this goal. By 2030, there is proper access to safe and sufficient nutrition for all people especially the poor and vulnerable. According to the UN, the targets to be attained to ensure the availability of food and end hunger encompass:
- Putting in place resilient agricultural techniques and practices to increase productivity and production to ensure the availability of food and nutrition.
- Adoption of intensive procedures /strategies to ensure circulation and easy access to food and nutrition even in the most remote regions.
- Prevention of trade distortion and restraints in agricultural markets and adoption of measures to ensure proper functioning action of nutrition commodity markets.
As mentioned, food is the basis of life, and good health revolves around it. Thus, the disadvantages of hunger and the unavailability of food can not be overemphasized. This trigger a bunch of health problems such as malnutrition especially in children. It also influences daily activities like inactivity at work. It is to this effect that the UN even saw it fit for the culmination of hunger to be the 2nd SDG.