one of our neighbors here at gw, the north america office of the food and agriculture organization of the united nations, has long been a supporter of this mission.

together, we’ve taken exceptional students to report from the world food prize in iowa, and to fao headquarters in rome for world food day at the committee on world food security. since the pandemic limited our ability to offer these travel-based experiential learning opportunities, we had to get creative.

now, i am thrilled to announce our first ever planet forward-fao storytelling summer fellowship, through which four students will produce stories in any medium at the nexus of food security, agriculture, and nutrition, and work under the guidance of gw’s national geographic professor of science communication, lisa palmer.

allow me to introduce our 2021 storytelling summer fellows:

• sejal govindarao is a rising sophomore studying political communication at george washington university. sejal is based in the san francisco bay area and will be reporting on minority communities there.

• terrius harris, who is currently pursuing his master’s of legal studies for indigenous peoples law at university of oklahoma, is a previous storyfest winner, a past senior planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 , and previously traveled with planet forward to the committee on world food security in 2018. terrius will be reporting from oahu, hawaii, on indigenous population’s access to food.

• jules struck, from emerson college and who is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism, will be reporting from the boston, massachusetts, area.

• benjamin thomas, a junior studying environmental studies at franklin & marshall college, will be reporting from a sustainable farm in havre de grace, maryland.

our fellows begin june 7, and while stories will be completed this summer, the fellowship will culminate with events surrounding world food day in october. keep an eye on planetforward.org and our social media accounts for more from and about these amazing students!

only one side event during the week-long meeting at the fao headquarters in rome was dedicated to fishing, and the fishing industry rarely, if ever, came up during main events. according to people who work on fisheries and aquaculture for the fao, this is indicative of a larger problem.

“fisheries in general, by and large, do not gain as much attention or recognition or publicity as terrestrial agriculture,” said omar elhassan, an aquaculture biosecurity consultant for the fao.

fisheries and aquaculture provide the primary source of animal protein for 17% of the world’s population, according to the fao. and in low-income, food-deficit countries and small-island developing countries, nearly 25% of people rely on fish for their primary source of animal protein. when it comes to nutrition, fish matter, both globally and locally.

the same is true for employment, as it is estimated that more than 260 million people around the world work in the fishing industry. this number doesn’t necessarily account for those who aren’t employed as fishers but rely on sustenance fishing to feed their families. aquaculture and fisheries assure the livelihoods of 10% to 12% of the world’s population, or about 770 million to 925 million people.

if you picture huge industrial fishing boats – or the tv show “deadliest catch” — when you hear the word “fisherman,” you’re not alone. industrial-scale fishing tends to dominate how the western world understands fishing, but it doesn’t reflect the reality for most of the world’s fishers. small-scale fisheries employ 90% of the world’s capture fishers. adjust your mental image to include open-air fish markets, small fishing boats, and “the old man and the sea,” and now you’re closer to the truth. oh, and half the people in your mental image should be women.

empowering female fishers

women make up half the workforce of the seafood industry (including both fisheries and aquaculture). because the fishing activities are often equated with capture fishing and most capture fishers are men, the number of women involved in the fish supply chain has typically been vastly underreported.

“we see some women are fishing, but they are certainly marginalized often because they don’t often get on the boat, and that might also depend on some traditional beliefs – for example, that women are bad luck having on the boat,” said nicole franz, a fishery planning analyst for the fao.

women do the majority of the post-harvest work in many small-scale fisheries worldwide, whether they are cleaning and selling the fish or repairing fish nets and boats. but carrying these responsibilities doesn’t mean women always have access to necessary resources or to the markets, and they rarely reap the full benefits of their work.

“(women) don’t necessarily get the fair distribution of benefits within the value chain. if they’re not organized, that’s even worse. we see examples when you have a women’s organization that can act as a trade group together then obviously they can demand higher prices and they’re in a better position to access the market,” franz said.

the fisheries department at fao works closely with women’s groups, especially in africa and asia, to help support the rights and empowerment of women fishers. franz cites the recent establishment of a national women fishers’ organization in tanzania as an example.

technology as an intervention in fisheries

technology can make a critical difference in the fish supply chain, especially in terms of productivity and nutrition. in africa and southeast asia, it’s common to dry small fish by placing them directly on the beach. access to something as simple as a drying rack can completely change how much a small-scale fishing community can gain from their harvest.

“a small innovation like putting this fish on a rack rather than on the floor could make a big difference in terms of the product quality and hence the price, the nutritional qualities, and the overall volume that is produced by these women,” franz said.

some traditional fish-smoking processes can cause respiratory illnesses among women and children who are exposed to the smoke. the fao is working on providing access to better ovens that allow women to work without health risks. usually, a country or an organization will make a request to the fao for better technology, and the fao will provide training on how to build, operate, and maintain the technology. this helps to avoid dividing the market, which is what would happen if some women were directly given the technology and others were not.

“you need to very carefully assess the situation beforehand and discuss with the women themselves a solution on how maybe as a group they can come up with a system where they take turns in accessing this oven or how they divide the benefits of the products that are coming from the use of this improved technology,” franz said.

indigenous fishers and rights to the resource

small-scale fisheries also are critically important to indigenous communities, from the arctic circle to the coasts of south america. as with women, it’s difficult to track how many fishers are indigenous, but this is an area that the fisheries department of fao is beginning to dedicate more attention to because of how important fishing is to indigenous peoples around the world.

one of the main issues facing indigenous fishers is the recognition of access rights. customary or informal access rights are often disregarded when governments develop regulations and create fishing quotas. in the united states, the fish wars were a notable series of conflicts between the washington state government and native american tribes in the 1960s and 1970s. the state government tried to enforce fishing laws that were in conflict with hundred-year-old treaties held by the tribes, and the u.s. government eventually sided with the tribes.

tribal governments and organizations can help people organize and assert their rights, and franz has noticed an uptick in organizing among young indigenous people, especially.

“it’s an expression of this growing awareness and interest to get organized, to get the voice into processes, and to see how the particular issues that indigenous peoples depending on small-scale fisheries are also facing on top of what already is often a challenge for small-scale fishers,” franz said.

climate change threatens livelihoods

you may be wondering why any of this matters, since climate change is acidifying and warming our oceans, killing our fish, and driving people away from their coastal and island homes. but climate change only makes the need for fisheries-focused work even greater, because the people who rely on fish for income or food will be hit hardest. the role of the fao, then, is to figure out how to increase the resilience of coastal fishing communities.

“we have colleagues (who) work on climate change impacts on fisheries because obviously, in particular, coastal communities are very, very exposed, and the vulnerability to the impacts of climate change are considerably higher in coastal areas,” franz said. “they’re looking at the impact both on the resource, in terms of, for example, how stocks are shifting patterns based on the change of temperature in the sea, but also the impacts of increased climate vulnerability on coastal communities.”

multibillion-dollar fisheries in the united states are threatened by ocean acidification, which impedes the structural development of corals, lobsters, and other marine organisms. one state that is particularly threatened is alaska, the home of the nation’s largest crab fishery. alaskans tend to rely more on subsistence harvests than many other americans, so communities that rely on subsistence crab harvests are especially threatened by the changing ocean. thousands of miles away in the caribbean, ocean acidification is harming the coral reefs that are critical to the economies of florida, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands. coral reefs bring in tourism, produce fish to be harvested, and reduce coastal flooding and erosion.

women and indigenous fishers are especially vulnerable to climate change because their more limited rights and mobility make it harder for them to migrate when their current homes no longer yield enough fish. increasing their economic mobility and power in the market can make women and indigenous fishers more resilient to climate change.

the social costs of conservation

destructive fishing practices and overfishing can transform ecosystems and reduce fisheries, sometimes to the point of no return. when there are few regulations over access to a fishery, resources become depleted and communities are devastated.

“what we see often is that there are no regulations for access, and that’s part of an issue in terms of environmental sustainability, because we see growing populations, increased pressure on coastal areas,” franz said. “on the other hand, for many of these communities, fishing is the only way to make a living, to get food.”

the presence of industrial fishing companies puts pressure on the already tenuous balance of access and protection. common resource management models include coastal zones that are reserved for small-scale fishers, quota systems assigned to a community or an individual, and co-management systems that allow governments to directly collaborate with small-scale and industrial fishers. but monitoring and enforcement is always a challenge for a government, which is a benefit of co-management.

“it’s about handing over, in many ways, the responsibility for the stewardship directly to the communities by generating a system in which they really recognize and value those management measures because they have co-designed them,” franz said.

conflicts between conservation efforts and fishing communities are also a growing issue, especially since national or state governments may create marine protected areas without consulting small-scale fishing communities that will be affected. conservation has social costs, and just access to resources is sometimes overlooked in pursuit of environmental protections.

“in fao, what we’re using is the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries, which tries to look at the environmental, the human, and the institutional dimensions together to make sure that these tradeoffs and tensions are identified from the beginning, and that whenever management measures are decided or the use of an area is decided, this is kept in mind,” franz said.

when negative impacts on the community are unavoidable, it’s important to look out for them in other ways.

“you make sure that either there’s a compensation mechanism or there’s some kind of a safeguarding function to ensure that you’re not having these unintended impacts afterwards that you haven’t even thought about,” franz said.

wild-caught vs farm-raised: the aquaculture debate

not all fish are harvested from the wild, which is a good thing since climate change and overfishing are shrinking fisheries worldwide. aquaculture is responsible for about half of global fish production.

here’s another mental image you may need to adjust: for the most part, aquaculture is not done in factories by large corporations but in backyard ponds by individuals and families. most aquaculture is small-scale, and 90% of the world’s aquaculture takes place in china and southeast asia, according to fao aquaculture biosecurity consultant omar elhassan. and again, about half of the people involved are women.

elhassan believes aquaculture is the future of global fish production, and he notes that aquaculture has been the fastest growing sector of food production since the 1980s. but cultural opinions about it differ greatly from place to place.

“all the fishing zones are essentially at capacity,” elhassan said. “the only thing that’s going to boost food fish production is (aquaculture), but also it really depends on the cultural mindset towards aquaculture.”

in asia and europe, aquaculture tends to be widely accepted, but in the united states, wild-caught fish is believed to have superior freshness and nutrition. 

“in the u.s., (fish) is one of the largest trade deficits. all of the fish in the u.s. is essentially just imported from other countries, and it’s a mix of aquaculture and wild-caught,” elhassan said. but false or misleading labeling leads americans to believe all of the fish they’re eating came from an ocean or a lake.

in elhassan’s opinion, there’s nothing inferior about fish, shrimp, or other animals that come from aquaculture versus from the wild. in terms of nutrition, health, and safety, the american distaste for aquaculture has little factual backing.

protecting aquaculturists’ livelihoods through biosecurity

the main risk faced by aquaculturists is aquatic animal diseases, which can rapidly infect an entire population of animals because it is hard to pinpoint the original source of infection and stop the spread of disease in a pond. biosecurity is a set of measures that people involved in aquaculture undertake to fortify an aquaculture production facility against aquatic animal diseases, and it’s what elhassan focuses on at fao.

“if you’re a small-scale farmer and you lose your entire stock, that can be quite devastating for livelihoods,” elhassan said. it’s like a corn farmer who loses his entire crop to a flood or a sheep herder who loses his herd to an animal attack.

“let’s say i’m a small scale aquaculturist and i lost all of my shrimp stock because of a disease, and let’s say that i’m not even in the worst case; i lost my whole stock but i still had some money or i could still take a loan. there’s still persisting problems of having this disease in my pond. now i have to take all the water out, i have to disinfect the water – can’t just throw it into the environment – and i’m going to have to dry my pond and my soil and sediment and disinfect the things for like at least three months before you would be even allowed to try to produce again,” elhassan said.

the role of the fao is to work with governments that request aquaculture biosecurity assistance to try to protect small-scale aquaculturists from losing their livelihoods in this way.

“what really drives a lot of the work, at least for us in the aquaculture branch, is trying to connect different stakeholders such as national, international, government, academia, and small-scale to recognize aquaculture as a truly profitable enterprise,” elhassan said.

getting fisheries to the global stage – or not

fisheries and aquaculture are profitable, important industries that employ and feed millions of people – especially women and indigenous peoples – around the world. in recognition of this, the fao is working to ensure that the needs of fishers, aquaculturists, and the people who rely on their harvests are addressed by the un. but most public-facing policy conversations in the international community still focus on terrestrial agriculture. despite the love that many cultures share for the ocean, it seems unlikely that fish will ever hold our attention like cows have.

but on the other hand, elhassan and franz measure success through the local impacts of their efforts, not through the global perception of their work. their focus is the small-scale fisher, not the large-scale policymaker. and maybe that’s for the best – maybe the most impactful work is done when policies for fisheries and aquaculture remain on the smallest scale.

agriculture is a field with historic relevance leading back to the early hunter-gatherer societies of humanity. during these times, it was a cultural expectation that everyone had a role in maintaining the land. traditionally, men would embody the role of the hunter, while women maintained the agricultural land as the gatherer. although having different roles, commonality was met with the expectation that all youth would continue the tradition and become the agricultural leaders needed to ensure the survival of their society. a tradition that has since diminished in the majority of society, as generational farmers continue to exist, but their children are becoming less likely to carry-on the family legacy.

the idea that young people think that farming is not cool, the desire of youth to live in thriving cities, or that farming is hard physical work that young people today don’t desire; are some but not the main points of why youth are not interested in farming. additionally, yes, though job security and our society’s push toward medical, technological, and engineering careers are a greater cause for this generational divide; i believe that the answer to this question is rooted in a greater issue: knowledge.

with our world globalizing at a pace faster than ever before, information is at its optimal point of accessibility in today’s society. it is in this society where the media focuses on trending topics where agriculture is lost among the millions of strands of information accessible by a click of a button. without this knowledge, the mundane traditional perceptions of farming will continue to spread, as the field continues to diminish, while youth continue to believe that there is not a place for them in agriculture. however, what if i told you that this was just not true; and that in fact the agriculture field is a place of opportunity for youth and older generations alike? here are three debunked misconceptions about youth in agriculture.

1. technology is growing in agriculture. in fact, it even has its own word, agri-tech. agri-tech, is the use of technology for agriculture, aquaculture, and horticulture that is developed to improve efficiency and profitability. this includes the usage of mobile applications for agriculture focused on efforts of connecting farmers and sponsors, to the usage of drones for agriculture, focused on monitoring fields and livestock. it even includes information communication technologies (ict) like podcasts and other social media efforts (on platforms like planet forward) to bring awareness to agriculture. lastly, and what i found most impressive is that it there is even blockchain for agriculture, which allows the usage of virtual money such as bitcoin to be used in investment and sales of produce and agritech. in fact, according to forbes magazine, agri-tech is a key area of focus for investors globally. a field that continues to surprise, and actually has many career paths and even more job opportunities in agriculture technology.

2. farming can be very profitable. though sometimes becoming a farmer may have humble beginnings, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make a profit out of it. in fact, there are actually multiple financial resources available in the u.s. alone. additionally, if you’re considered to be youth, there are even more financial opportunities for you. with there being such high-demand in the agricultural field, specifically in farming, many governmental and non-profit organizations are creating financial opportunities and rewards to encourage people, specifically youth, to pursue a career in the field. after you’ve secured this funding the next part can be tricky, but with the right practices, your farm can be very profitable. this highly depends on two things: the type of crops you grow and how you choose to operate your farm. from a face-value level, the type of crops you grow can increase your potential profit greatly. just check out these two links which explain the five and 10 highly profitable farming ventures. through this method, you are essentially guaranteed a higher potential profit by growing and raising produce that is in high demand on the market. on the contrary, for someone who does not have the capabilities or environment of producing products such as this, your second option is to alter the manner in which you operate your farm. according to agweb.com, though all farms can be profitable, there are common denominators in the farms that have the biggest success. this includes things from the inclusion of more technology or using outside experts, to revamping their accounting practices to better represent their actual costs. nevertheless, if they can do it, so can you.

3. agriculture can complement your life goals. there are a multitude of agriculture jobs beyond farming. although farmers are in high-demand, the remainder of the agricultural field is vast. this includes jobs from agricultural engineering and wildlife/forest conversation to forest health specialist. this field is not only sustainable within itself, but can easily pair with your own ambitions and goals. for example, if you’re a student majoring in finance with hopes of venturing into banking, consider adding a focus in agriculture and there are jobs such as a wells fargo senior business relationship manager – agriculture available. banking isn’t your thing, but you’re really interested in working in communications? perfect. most companies or organizations focused in agriculture, aquaculture, etc., also have to maintain communication and public relations with the surrounding world. so as you’re thinking about your future, think about how agriculture might pair well with your career goals and apply to an internship or two to give it a try.

agriculture is the world around us, and just like the world around us, it is versatile and open to all. though it has had a negative perception, the agricultural field is actually a field of opportunity. so, truth be told, it’s not that there is not a place for youth in agriculture, instead, it’s that youth have the opportunity to make agriculture something that it never has been before.

the future of agriculture is technology, it’s youth, and it’s change. for the agriculture of tomorrow begins now, with you.

—

editor’s note: this series, a zero hunger future, is generously sponsored by the un-fao. all editorial content is created independently. to discover more experiential learning opportunities, email editor@planetforward.org.

the un had just released an alarming report, which warned that 12 years from now we will be beyond the tipping point — the point-of-no-return — when the global warming trend will be irreversible.

global warming isn’t the only issue on the u.n.’s agenda. this year, delegates at the un-fao launched a mission to end world hunger by 2030. the u.n. estimates that more than 820 million people are hungry. that number has been increasing since 2014, despite the un-fao’s previous efforts to rid the world of hunger.

what are global leaders doing differently now to ensure that their end world hunger campaign works this time around?

one of their focuses is to build resilience. several weeks before the un-fao’s annual world food day conference, the fao partnered with the european union on a €77 million (approximately $80 million) project to build global resilience to food crises.

a community is considered to be in a food crisis when at least one in five households have high malnutrition, even with humanitarian aid, according to the famine early warning systems network.

“investing in resilience is key to fighting hunger today and in the future. in view of the magnitude and persistence of food crises,” josé graziano da silva, head of the fao, said in a press release. “we need to invest more in resilience interventions and create stronger alliances with all parties.”

food crises are caused by conflict, drought, flood, disease, and unstable food prices, the un-fao reports. in 2017, a total of 51 countries were affected by food crises, according to an fao report. the same reported estimated that 125 million people are food insecure as a result of food crises. these individuals equal 15% of the global hungry population.

günther hemrich, deputy director of the fao’s nutrition and food systems division, lived in mwingi, kenya—a town tormented with food crises—for three years.

hemrich said that the first crop season he witnessed in mwingi was a failure. the village survived off of humanitarian aid, which was mostly corn. the second season also failed. corn for dinner again. then so did the third. and the fourth. so, more corn was delivered to mwingi.

finally, the fifth season prospered. the rainy season allowed the crops to thrive, but it also triggered a devastating cholera outbreak.

disease is among the top causes of food crises, the un reports. hundreds of village members were affected. those who were healthy enough would carry their neighbors to health centers in wheelbarrows, hemrich said.

although kenya faces food crises, it is not a country that will receive aid from the fao and eu’s 3-year-long project. the food resilience project will focus on 12 countries: yemen, cuba, venezuela, myanmar, madagascar, ethiopia, somalia, sudan, niger, chad, mali, and nigeria.

yemen was the most hunger-stricken country on the globe last year with more than half of the population—about 17 million people—considered food insecure as a result of conflict, displacement and economic collapse.

other countries on the list, such as ethiopia and madagascar, have been affected by extreme weather. ethiopia is still facing the effects of the el nińo drought and madagascar has been impacted by cyclones.

it is not yet clear what these projects will entail or how they will build resilience, but leaders agree that the effort is necessary.

with a growing global population — which is projected to hit 10 billion by 2050 — and the effects of climate change, un leaders feel the pressure to enact monumental change.

“either we carry on doing the same thing, which is not getting us any closer to zero hunger, or we do things differently,” arvelo said.

—

editor’s note: this series, a zero hunger future, is generously sponsored by the un-fao. all editorial content is created independently. to discover more experiential learning opportunities, email editor@planetforward.org.

president of the united nations food and agriculture organization (unfao),  josé graziano da silva, challenged delegates in the plenary to stay grounded in this question as they would spend the next week discussing and devising solutions to end global hunger by 2030.

interestingly enough, this was not the first time i found myself facing this powerful question. in my medical school training, we often are asked to take pause on similar questions: “did i think of every possible diagnosis?” “did i ask every relevant question?” “did i evaluate all possible outcomes?” all these questions ultimately boil down to, “did i do everything i could for this patient when there was still a chance?”

at these united nations’ meetings, the “patient” is the world and the outcomes to prepare for range from decreased crop diversity to increased strain on resources. throughout the week, delegates worked to create plans so we could do “everything” we can to keep perhaps our most important patient healthy.

medicine and health played a notable role in these meetings. the united nations 2nd sustainable development goal outlines, “a profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed to nourish today’s 795 million hungry + the additional 2 billion increase in global population expected by 2050.” queen letizia of spain noted a critical element in devising solutions for this goal: “it is not just about feeding, it is about nourishing.”

throughout the week, it was highlighted that diet is the no. 1 risk factor globally for disease. as the world prepares to reshape our food systems, this statistic and the important health consequences from food cannot be ignored.

from a medical viewpoint, malnutrition is understood to be, a “dysfunction resulting from a failure to consume or to metabolize sufficient nutrients to support the body’s structural and functional integrity,” according to the sabiston textbook of surgery (2017). malnutrition can be caused by starvation, metabolic disorders, or even obesity due to intake of inappropriate and nutrient poor foods. prolonged malnutrition can impair organ systems, leading to respiratory insufficiency, delayed wound healing, skeletal muscle wasting, renal atrophy, immunosuppression, or cardiac dysfunction.

while hunger can have devastating impacts on individuals and communities, malnutrition extends beyond hunger. the meetings importantly pointed out that 8 of the 20 countries with the fastest rising obesity rates are in developing parts of africa and just under 40% of adults in the united states are obese. malnutrition is a disease of both poverty and wealth. with an increasing trend in non-communicable diseases, like cardiovascular disease or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, it is imperative to recognize how food trends are influencing the global health landscape.

given the close interplay between health and food, it is clear that policies to end malnutrition will require a close collaboration with the healthcare sector. clinicians need a seat at the table to advocate for patients around the world and to offer insight on the downstream health consequences of shifting diets. in order to “do everything we could when there was still a chance,” we need to involve everyone we can while there is still a chance. from tackling problems as far-reaching as the interplay of climate change and global food security to overcoming microscopic obstacles in a clinical setting, solutions are made stronger when diverse perspectives are involved.

—

editor’s note: this series, a zero hunger future, is generously sponsored by the un-fao. all editorial content is created independently. to discover more experiential learning opportunities, email editor@planetforward.org.

the meetings concentrated on discussions concerning worldwide progress being made on global food security measures, specifically relating to the second sustainable development goal: zero hunger. the goal focuses on eliminating hunger completely by the year of 2030. currently, one in nine — 815 million people — around the globe are considered to be malnourished, with the majority of the people living in a developing country. furthermore, 45% of childhood deaths under the age of five are a result of undernourishment.

josè graziano da silva, director of the food and agriculture organization of the united nations said, “zero hunger is not just about feeding people, but nourishing people.”

achieving the goal of zero hunger must include a dynamic, collaborative solution involving public policy, the private sector, and all citizens on this planet including all countries. based on the comments stated throughout the committee on global food security meetings, hunger can be divided into two parts: obesity and starvation.

obesity

malnourishment is not solely defined by starvation, or a lack of a calorie-dense diet. obesity is also a form of malnourishment of epidemic proportion that increases peoples risks to non-communicable diseases by consuming too many calories compared to the amount of exercise the individual is performing.

there are currently 38 million children under the age of five who are overweight and one in eight adults who also struggle with obesity. this health epidemic affects both developed and developing countries. obesity is most prevalent in developed countries, most commonly found in north america. discussion around obesity at the committee for global food security meetings was related to low income budgets turning to foods that are calorie-dense and nutrient-poor including fast food and highly processed foods. these poor food choices are much cheaper and offer a high-calorie food source, which families resort to in an effort to combat their food insecurity. the delegates at the meetings promoted sourcing and creating fresh foods available to these families and also educating the youth on how to implement these fresh foods into their diets and preparing them to be tasteful.

starvation

achieving the goal of zero hunger by reducing starvation requires, perhaps surprisingly, a continued emphasis on the empowerment of women, according to the food and agriculture organization. with agriculture being the single largest employer in the world, employing more than 40% of the global population, there is a continued need for women to be included in active roles in agriculture. the female farmers of the world predominately run agricultural operations with the goal of producing enough food to feed their families, specifically in developing countries. some of the ways women are empowered to promote efficient agricultural production includes education of methodology, implementation of technology, and utilization of proper storage techniques all of which help maximize yields. finally, women need to continue to tell their stories about how they are driven to subsist and feed their families.

we heard about an example demonstrating the importance of storytelling in agriculture is a first-time farmer from sewa, zala shardaben fathesinh. zala strives to produce food for her family to live on and had to begin her operation by borrowing money, and, as a result, was trapped in a vicious cycle of trying to pay the money back to the lender, while also producing enough food for the family. zala discussed some of the challenges that she faces on a regular basis, including drought that has been worsened by climate change and a lack of technology to help optimize her operation. zala’s story exemplifies issues being discussed within the united nations to achieve the goal of zero hunger through the reduction of undernourishment.

food is a basic necessity for life. the type of food available can determine the health and opportunities available to an individual. civilization needs to strive to produce more food, on fewer resources, with more nutrients to sustain the growing population. how is this world going to be able to ecologically sustain the amount of food we need to produce to feed the entirety of the expected population of 10 billion?

—

editor’s note: this series, a zero hunger future, is generously sponsored by the un-fao. all editorial content is created independently. to discover more experiential learning opportunities, email editor@planetforward.org.