Hunger In Sub-Saharan Africa

“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” (The New York Times 1). This is one of the seventeen Global Goals and it targets one of the initial struggles being faced by nearly every country/nation, in some way on some level. Although the many countries faced with hunger and starvation fall under the inferred notion of having no food as the cause of their deprivation, this is not the case. In fact, they do have foods, but it is the lack of other various types of food that they lack which all in all leads to poor nutrition and therefore cannot provide the proper substances for these peoples to live a healthy life. In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a very high deficit in the advancement goals including:
“One promising trend is that, as more farmers have access to mobile phones, they are able to receive all sorts of information-from weather reports to current market prices-via text message” (Gates 12). With the involvement and usage of technology, we can reach African farmers more efficiently and provide them with these new developments. “Agricultural extension also tends to be geared toward male farmers (for example, it may focus on the crops that men tend to grow), even though women do at least half of the farm labor in Africa”(Gates 12). The new innovations being made for farmers are primarily developed around the male gender, making it burdensome for Africa to adapt since most farmers there are women. So, this creates yet again an additional factor to Africa’s setbacks. A reconstruction of who these farming techniques are geared toward and making them versatile for all peoples in all different scenarios will be challenging but will and can be, along with communication, the answer to all starvation worldwide. “Investing in extension so that it helps more farmers in more places — women as well as men, smallholders as well as more commercial farmers — is the only way to reap the full benefit of innovation” (Gates 12). Being able to not only communicate these new ideals but also adapt them to the African’s lifestyle will also help to solve the issue
One of the prevailing and in fact worsening problem deals with Africa’s good sources and agriculture which ultimately affect Africa’s people with hunger, malnutrition and starvation. It is not that Africa lacks any food sources but that it does lack a variety of nutrients and minerals. If the incorporation of communication of the new and innovative agricultural techniques, African farmers will be able to learn with the development in this major area and perhaps seek success and conquer their countries hunger. However, due to their lack of involvement they are unable to learn how to be adaptive to their own fertile lands and cannot expand their variety of food. If we can first cross the barrier of communicating these new farming techniques then there is a chance to help innovate Africa’s