UGEC2210 Food and Hunger

Food is essential for life by providing energy and nutrition and achieving zero hunger is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Ironically, world hunger is increasing and FAO’s most recent estimates put the number of hungry people at 822 million in 2018-19, an increase of more than 28 million since 2014-16, even though the technology of food production has improved significantly. Why? It is because the causes of world hunger are multiple and, in principle, include food availability, accessibility and utilization. The course therefore adopts a multidisciplinary approach to examine the different issues of food and hunger, and how they change with time. The causes of world hunger will be analyzed with special emphasis on food production systems, bearing in mind there is no single solution to the problem. Towards the end of the course, the development of sustainable agriculture and measures to mitigate the hunger problem in the 21st century will be addressed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Lectures will be supplemented with case studies, videos and slides.