Issue

Food

The United Nations defines food security as "all people at all times hav[ing] both physical and economic access to the basic food they need." For approximately 2 billion people throughout the world, this security is anything but guaranteed. Food security is a complicated issue that is susceptible to many forces.

Insecurity results from climate change, urban development, population growth, and oil price shifts that are interconnected and rarely confined by borders. It's an issue of global importance, and explored in-depth in the articles, videos and comments you'll find here.

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, a legacy of corrupt governance and an economy based primarily on oil exports has left the agriculture sector significantly weakened and millions of Nigerians hungry. And as poorer neighboring countries export more food to Nigeria in exchange for petrodollars, people there also go hungry. In 2005, thousands of children in neighboring Niger died of malnutrition, not because the country had had a particularly bad harvest, but because there was a food shortage in Nigeria, and people in Niger could not afford the ensuing higher prices.

A different threat is set to face the continent's second biggest crop: wheat. In 1999, 50 years since the last outbreak, a new and virulent strain of stem rust attacked Ugandan crops. Its spores then traveled to Ethiopia and Kenya before appearing in Iran last year. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has since warned six other countries in Central and South Asia to watch for signs of the new strain while scientists in the U.S. are urgently working to find a resistant wheat variety. In India alone, more than 50 million small-scale farmers are at risk because they rely on wheat for their food and income.

In Tajikistan, the global financial crisis is forcing thousands of newly unemployed Tajiks to return from Russia. In a country already straining to accommodate Tajik refugees from Afghanistan, the government's chronic mismanagement has amplified the power and food shortages that permeate the countryside.

In Guatemala, income inequality is among the worst in the world, with indigenous communities at a particular disadvantage. In some regions, an estimated 75 percent of the children from infants to the ages of 6 and 7 are chronically malnourished. It is a startling example of food scarcity in a country a mere four-hour flight away from the U.S.

Asia faced its own food crisis as the price of rice doubled last summer. Some hunger experts are seeking out large-scale responses, including stepping up commercial agricultural techniques by introducing genetically modified rice and related products into the region. Other more localized efforts by universities and organizations are providing training in sustainable techniques for traditional farming families and minority ethnic groups.

Pulitzer Center grantees explore the connected causes and effects of food insecurity including efforts to secure the physical and economic access to food in countries most in need.

Food was produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in partnership with the Project for Under-Told Stories and Saint Mary's University.

Food

Chinese Development in the Amazon

Last year, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached the highest rate in more than a decade. One of the biggest drivers of deforestation in the region is the growing of soybeans for livestock feed. The World's host Marco Werman speaks to reporter and Pulitzer Center Grantee Melissa Chan about her reporting in Brazil on Chinese interests in the Amazon.

From Yemen: The Great Escape

Salem was at the airport when the first bombs dropped in Yemen. Months later, he would be forced to flee his homeland. For days, he walked and hitchhiked across the war torn nation. This is his story.

Lebanon’s Refugees Use Technology to Fight Food Insecurity

High poverty and unemployment rates among the world's 26 million refugees means that many are struggling with food security after fleeing their home countries. But in Lebanon, a U.N. pilot program is trying to use technology and digital innovations to provide food for hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

WFP Uses New Tech to Fight Refugee Food Shortages in Jordan

Jordan is home to an estimated 3 million refugees, and the country's harsh terrain makes supplying food for them difficult. But to combat the food shortages, the U.N. World Food Program is using technologies like iris scans to track refugee spending habits and hydroponics to grow livestock feed.

Global Voices on Food Insecurity

Reporting from Pulitzer Center journalists and across the blogosphere on food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition around the world.

Ethiopia: Hunger and Abundance

A country dependent on food aid is also selling off farmland to foreign companies interested in export production for their home markets. How Ethiopia became a leader in this global trend, and what it says about exploitation and self-sufficiency.

Honduras: Fighting Malnutrition

Nestled in a remote northern Honduras valley, Santa Lucia and the surrounding area are home to 20,000 rural inhabitants. These families rely solely on their agrarian skills for a subsistent living. According to UNICEF, over one-third of Honduran infants are malnourished due to this indigenous lifestyle. Four percent of Honduran children die before reaching five years of age, at a rate five times higher than that of U.S.

Guatemala: Forgotten Trauma

Samuel Loewenberg ventures to Guatemala to survey the underlying issues of the Central American country's extreme poverty. There, income inequality equals the worst in Africa - particularly among indigenous communities. In some regions, an estimated 75 percent of the children from infants to the ages of 6 and 7...

Tracy Boyer wins AEJMC Award for Honduras and the Hidden Hunger

Student Fellow Tracy Boyer wins a first place Award of Excellence from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication for Honduras and the Hidden Hunger

The "Best of the Web" competition is an annual Website design contest for members of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. There are categories for individual, group and creative entries. Judging will be done by Web design professionals and academics with a background in Web technology.

Announcing the 2009 Student Reporting Fellows!

Students at Campus Consortium member schools were eligible to apply for reporting fellowships of up to $2,000 each and the opportunity to work with the Pulitzer Center staff on an international reporting project. Listed below are the inaugural winners for 2009 and previews of their projects.