DES MOINES, Iowa (DTN) -- As global hunger continues to escalate, 13 World Food Prize laureates are voicing frustration that this crisis has been overlooked in U.S. elections.
The laureates issued a letter and held a press conference Wednesday at the World Food Prize's flagship event, the Borlaug Dialogue. The World Food Prize, established to honor Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Iowa wheat breeder Norman Borlaug, recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to reducing hunger. Each of the 13 laureates who signed the letter is either an expert or an advocate committed to fighting hunger.
"We felt it was important to note that there has been virtually no mention of hunger -- let alone world hunger -- in this campaign on both sides at different levels of the federal government," said David Beckmann, a 2010 laureate who received the World Food Prize for his work as a nutrition advocate at Bread for the World.
The number and percentage of people facing chronic hunger globally has risen from 581 million (7.5%) in 2019 to 733 million (9.1%) in 2023.
With a full plate of political issues in the U.S., Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have not spoken about the needs of people facing hunger outside the U.S. Still, food insecurity is among the reasons people are willing to migrate to the U.S. and enter the country illegally.
The U.S. remains a leader in funding and programs to help alleviate world hunger. But the laureates said little to nothing has been discussed in the presidential election over how increased global hunger leads to more instability, violence and eventually both refugees and migration.
"Hunger is the crises beyond the crises on our (TV) screens," said Lawrence Haddad, a 2019 laureate. "Hungry people are restless people. Hungry people have less to lose and more to gain from conflict. Hungry people don't pay as much attention, perhaps, to taking care of the environment as they do to taking care of their families."
Talking about U.S. leadership, Haddad said, "The decisions that we make here will impact hungry people around the world."
Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, the 2021 WFP laureate from Trinidad and Tobago, said the world still views the U.S. as a "beacon of hope" when it comes to tackling global hunger.
"It would be wonderful to see that beacon of hope really emphasized," she said.
Per Pinstrup-Andersen, the 2001 laureate from Denmark, said U.S. leaders need to consider the impact global hunger has on world peace.
"We're not going to have peace in the world when a large portion of the people can't get access to the food they need," Pinstrup-Andersen said.
Beyond the election, Beckmann said the next month will be critical for global food advocates. The G20 economies will launch the Global Alliance Against Hunger at a summit in November led by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who became a World Food Prize laureate in 2011 for his work in reducing hunger in Brazil. Along with that, funding will be set for the World Bank for the next three years that will dictate the level of support that can be provided to developing countries such as debt relief, Beckmann said.
"Two thirds of the low-income countries are now spending more to service their debts than they spend on the health and education of their people," Beckmann said.
The laureates, in their letter, emphasized how the pandemic depressed the world economy and disrupted trade. While the U.S. economy has rebounded from inflation spikes, many parts of the world continue to face high inflation and interest rates. All of that is compounding other problems facing these countries.
"Climate change has hit tropical countries hardest, undercutting the livelihoods of many subsistence farm families. Famine and near-famine conditions have reemerged around the world. There has also been a huge surge in violent conflicts, draining money and political attention away from investment in a better life for all people," the laureates stated in their letter.
The presidents of three African nations, the World Bank and the African Development Bank attended the Borlaug Dialogue this year to share strategies to lift the crippling debt burden on low-income countries, expand agricultural production in spite of climate change and foster peace.
Heidi Kuhn received the World Food Prize last year because of her group's efforts to help remove land mines from areas of global conflict. She noted Ukraine, which was "considered the breadbasket of Europe," is now riddled with mines over roughly 30% of the country.
"So, consider the mothers today who are on the front line in Ukraine, their husbands, their fathers, their brothers are at war. They have to feed their children, and what the Ukrainian mothers told me, they are now tiptoeing through fertile agricultural land, seeing the fruit that is ripe on the vine and making that choice of whether to pick that fruit, blowing up in a minefield or not, or allowing their children to starve," Kuhn said. "This is a moment in history that we as laureates are gathered here on the advent of the most historical election in our country; with 80 countries represented here and laureates from around the world at this table as mothers and fathers and global citizens, we call the United States [and on] those who are running to please, this week, include world hunger, because this is important, not only to our country, but to our world."
World Food Prize laureates also issued a similar letter last year calling on world leaders to do more to address world hunger.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will be among the speakers at the Borlaug Dialogue on Thursday.
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