World Hunger

Essay by szsoomroCollege, UndergraduateA, July 2005

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In spite of international food assistance over many years, large numbers of people in the world are hungry and many die from lack of food--as many as 40,000 each day!

A global food stamp program supported by high-income countries would facilitate the purchase of food by poor people in developing countries, and because of the increased economic demand for food, rural economies in both developed and less developed countries would be rejuvenated.

An international food stamp program, here proposed, could augment the purchasing power of world's poorest nations while stimulating the demand for agricultural commodities in the high income, food surplus nations. Farm prices in the high-income countries and the world market would increase 30-35 percent, and commercial exports of agricultural commodities, 60 percent.

The program would virtually eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the third world, where 40,000 people, by some estimates, die each day from lack of food. In addition, the rejuvenation of rural economies in both developed and less developed countries would stimulate world economic growth.

And this could be accomplished for about the same amount of money now being spent by the world's high-income nations on farm income support and foreign food aid programs. (Kuhn et al, p. 31-45)

A Global Food Stamp Program

This international food stamp program would be similar in setup to the U.S. food stamp program. Pieces of paper, food stamp vouchers, would be distributed to the poorest people in the world's poorest nations. The recipients would use the stamps to buy food. Food vendors in these countries would redeem the food stamps for domestic currency; they would also be allowed to exchange them for hard currency to pay for imported food. The food stamps themselves could be distributed through a variety of institutions--religious institutions, health care facilities, schools, local units of government,