International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

A translated summary from a Hillary Clinton's article

A new approach to food security
For one billion people worldwide, the daily effort to grow, buy, or sell food is the defining struggle of their lives. This matters to all of us.

Consider the world's typical small farmer.

She lives in a rural village, rises before dawn, and walks miles to collect water. If drought, blight, or pests don't destroy her crops, she may raise enough to feed her family – and may even have some left over to sell. But there's no road to the nearest market and no one there who can afford to buy from her.

Now consider a young man in a crowded city 100 miles from that farmer. He has a job that pays pennies. He goes to the market, but the food is rotting or priced beyond reach.

She has extra food to sell and he wants to buy it. But that simple transaction can't take place because of complex forces beyond their control.

The Obama administration sees chronic hunger as a key priority of our foreign policy.
Let's see if the new Nobel Peace Prize Obama and his administration keep their promises


Meeting the challenge of global hunger is at the heart of ‘food security' – empowering the world's farmers to sow and harvest plentiful crops, effectively care for livestock and catch fish, and then ensuring that the food they produce reaches those who need it.

Food security represents the convergence of several issues: droughts and floods caused by climate change, swings in the global economy that affect food prices, and spikes in the price of oil that increase transportation costs.

So food security is not only about food, but it is all about security. Chronic hunger threatens individuals, governments, societies, and borders. People who are starving or undernourished and cannot care for their families are left with feelings of hopelessness and despair, which can lead to tension, conflict, even violence. Since 2007, there have been riots over food in more than 60 countries.

The failures of farming in many parts of the world also have an impact on the global economy. Farming is the only or primary source of income for more than three-quarters of the world's poor. When so many work so hard but still can't get ahead, the whole world is held back.

Revitalising global agriculture will not be easy. Indeed, it is one of the most ambitious diplomacy and development efforts our country- USA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD have ever undertaken. But it can be done. It is worth doing. And if we succeed, our future will be more prosperous and more peaceful than our past.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the US secretary of state.