Food: The New Gold

Food: The New Gold — page 7 — also paid for health care for her sick brother and job training for her sister In talking about her success she said I feel as if I have been reborn Another IFAD project brought liquid gold honey to a village in Eritrea a country in eastern Africa Eritrean farmers normally grow grains and beans and raise a few animals on small plots of land But during droughts long periods of little or no rainfall crops won't grow and people go hungry The helped farmers learn to keep bees IFAD project and make honey Beekeeping enabled Hablemikael Luul an Eritrean farmer to survive drought He could run his beekeeping operation with small amounts of water Low rainfall didn't hurt his business With the money he made selling honey he was able to buy food even though prices were high I am really happy with my new business This is much better than working on the farm explains Luul I am getting old and farm work is really drudgery Bee keeping on the other hand requires less stamina strength and I make good money Another UN agency the UN Food and Agriculture Organization FAO helps farmers in poor nations around the world FAO funds projects such as low cost irrigation systems which enable farmers to bring water directly to their crops during dry periods FAO also helps farmers diversify or vary their business operations so they are not devastated financially if one part of their business fails For instance farmers might raise livestock and fish instead of just growing crops The addition of animals to a farm not only increases business but also adds meat to a poor family s diet HUNGER IN THE UNITED STATES In the United States it is rare for people to starve to death Still more than thirty five million Americans are unable to buy enough food They en skip meals Government officials describe these people as food insecure which is another way of saying they are hungry Food costs are rising in the United States and the effects are obvious

Food: The New Gold — page 8 — R G I FAOL 4800 5298 141 in us supermarkets A dozen large eggs cost 93 cents in 2001 By 2011 the price was 1 84 per dozen Milk cost 2 89 per gallon in 2001 The price had risen to 3 56 a gallon by 2011 Because of rising prices it is common to see people using coupons for discounts on food items buying groceries on sale and shopping at discount food stores Many U S families young and old low and middle income are trying to eat for less The problem worsened in 2008 when the U S economy entered a severe recession or downturn Millions of people lost their jobs or saw their wages drop Some lost their life savings Others couldn t afford to pay for their homes Many of these Americans have turned for help to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program SNAP a U S government food program formerly called the Food Stamp Program Other Americans have turned to state food assistance programs SNAP recipients use government issued cards similar to credit or debit cards to buy food

Food: The New Gold — page 9 — FOOD RECYCLING How many times have you tossed out milk leftovers or other food from the refrigerator because it was starting to go bad According to a study by the USDA U S Department of Agriculture Americans throw away about 96 billion pounds 43 5 billion kilograms of food each year This figure includes food thrown out by U S supermarkets restaurants and households Supermarkets throw out a lot of food because it's about to spoil and it can't be sold Restaurants often throw away perfectly good food that customers didn't order or didn't eat The situation is the same in other wealthy nations In a world where millions of people face hunger on a daily basis the loss of so much food is a tragedy But people are fighting the problem on many fronts Some supermarkets send discarded fruits and vegetables to recyclers who turn the food into nutrient rich compost decayed organic matter The recyclers then send the compost to farmers who use it as fertilizer Some supermarkets send leftover yogurt directly to farmers who feed it to hogs and other livestock animals Sometimes supermarkets must discard food that is perfectly safe to eat For instance food cans and boxes sometimes get damaged at stores and warehouses Supermarkets can't sell the packages even though the food inside them is safe In that case markets usually donate the food to organizations that help needy people Many colleges and high schools have cut cafeteria waste by serving food on dinner plates rather than on trays Since plates hold less than trays students are less likely to pile up food that may not be eaten As a result they throw away less food Studies have shown that when students stop using trays schools reduce food waste by 30 percent or more Numerous universities have also built their own composting sites to turn dining hall food waste into fertilizer

Food: The New Gold — page 10 — The dollar amounts vary by state and depend on the size of a family and its annual income Because of the rising cost of food the U S Congress increased SNAP funds and other essential nutrition programs in 2008 In 2011 SNAP was helping to feed more than 44 million Americans according to the U S Department of Agriculture USDA Other food assistance programs include federally funded school meals and the Women Infants and Children WIC program which provides money to states to help feed pregnant women mothers and children However SNAP WIC and other programs are not able to provide services for all the families who are eligible As a result many families in the United States still do not get enough food The USDA reports that a little more than 11 percent of U S households 13 million people face food insecurity a A FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE Since 2007 numerous federal and state officials students and other Americans have voluntarily participated in a program called the Food Stamp Challenge For one week participants are limited to spending only three dollars daily on food the average amount a SNAP recipient receives This effort gives participants insight into living without enough food on a daily basis Two Washington Post re porters Kimberley Chin and Kevin McGuire took part in the challenge Afterward Chin and McGuire wrote Living on such a budget GOING HUNGRY

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