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    A pre-school age girl helps her parents pick out veggies in the produce section at the grocery store. She is reaching for a red pepper.

    Exploding the five fat myths of ethical food

    if it seems too cheap, it is too cheap. There’s something wrong somewhere along the way.”

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    Shifting to care – the benefits of being the most inconvenient supermarket

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    Exploding the five fat myths of ethical food

    if it seems too cheap, it is too cheap. There’s something wrong somewhere along the way.”

    ‘Why’s chocolate so cheap?’: Aussies call for transparency

    Ukraine could lack seeds for grain crops for years

    Ukraine could lack seeds for grain crops for years

    Grains of wheat pictured at a mill in Beirut, Lebanon, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

    IMF, World Bank, WFP and WTO urge coordinated action on food security

    Farmer in Ubud rice fields, Bali

    Pesticides are not delivering food security and should be phased out: UN rapporteur

    A group of researchers works at the Future Seeds gene bank in Palmira, Colombia November 11, 2021. Picture taken November 11, 2021. Courtesy of International Center for Tropical Agriculture

    Crop scientists use genomic sequencing, artificial intelligence and machine learning

    At least 35,000 pigs had to be culled last year due to worker shortages.

    Labour shortages could cause permanent damage to farming

    Tony Montalban in an empty glasshouse at Roydon in the Lea Valley.

    Surging energy prices leave British glasshouses empty

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    A pre-school age girl helps her parents pick out veggies in the produce section at the grocery store. She is reaching for a red pepper.

    Exploding the five fat myths of ethical food

    if it seems too cheap, it is too cheap. There’s something wrong somewhere along the way.”

    ‘Why’s chocolate so cheap?’: Aussies call for transparency

    Ukraine could lack seeds for grain crops for years

    Ukraine could lack seeds for grain crops for years

    Grains of wheat pictured at a mill in Beirut, Lebanon, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

    IMF, World Bank, WFP and WTO urge coordinated action on food security

    Farmer in Ubud rice fields, Bali

    Pesticides are not delivering food security and should be phased out: UN rapporteur

    Rice farmer in Vietnam

    Right to seeds is crucial for the right to food: Geneva Academy

    Current genome-editing projects taking place at CGIAR centers

    Global approach to labelling needed for gene-edited crops

    The Future Seeds gene bank near Cali, Colombia. Pic: Juan Pablo Marin

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Home Topics Security

Will the UN and Elon Musk solve hunger over Twitter?

"Don't miss an opportunity because you didn't read/follow the instructions. Too much is at stake”

by May Davies
November 18, 2021
in Editor's picks, Society, Economy, Research
Reading Time: 3 mins read
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Will the UN and Elon Musk solve hunger over Twitter?
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The fate of 30,000 people dying each day from hunger and malnutrition seems to depend on how one billionaire responds to one tweet. How can that be?

This week the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) chief executive David Beasley replied to Tesla founder Elon Musk with some numbers. Elon Musk had tweeted on October 31st, “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.”

To give you an idea of the anticipation, one reply, from Michael Beck, or @michaelrbeck, read, “He’s asking you to describe on this Twitter thread how the money would solve world hunger. Don’t miss an opportunity because you didn’t read/follow the instructions. Too much is at stake.”

Elon Musk’s ask came after a Dr Eli David said, “In 2020 The UN World Food Programme raised $8.4B. How come it didn’t “solve world hunger”?”

Looking at David Beasley and the World Food Programme’s response, we have questions – and this is why. The numbers address the scale of the immediate need, which is dramatic, rather than solve hunger.

“500,000 people are hungry because of dysfunction which can be addressed over 10 years”

We’re looking at the difference between those who are hungry as a result of avoidable, versus unavoidable reasons. By avoidable we mean the world already produces more than enough to feed us all, so people are suffering for structural reasons, because of dysfunction in the food system.

They are not the same as those who are hungry as a result of war or conflict.

In an interview with Quota earlier this year, experts told us 500,000 people are hungry because of dysfunction which can be addressed over 10 years with money – costing US$33 billion a year by their estimation.

That leaves 200,000 who are trapped by war or conflict. Solving their hunger requires political intervention, and in the meantime, they could be expected to remain in need.

This came from Dr Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Carin Smaller, a programme director at the International Institute for Sustainable Development who believe the private sector could solve the hunger of those 500,000 who suffer for structural reasons.

David Beasley’s response would fund one meal a day for a year – will that solve hunger?

“It’s not handouts, it’s investing in the infrastructure to get food grown, to get it to people who need it, and to allow them to have the income to buy it,” Lawrence Haddad said.

David Beasley’s response this week to Elon Musk says US$6.6 billion would pay for “one meal a day, the basic needed to survive – costing US$0.43 per person per day, averaged out across 43 countries. This would feed 42 million people for one year, and avert the risk of famine.”

The costs are further broken down as:

  • $3.5 billion for food and its delivery
  • $2 billion for cash and food vouchers
  • $700 million for country-specific costs to design, scale up, and manage the implementation of efficient and effective programmess
  • $400 million for global and regional operations management, administration, and accountability

David Beasley had clarified to Elon Musk, on October 31st, “Headline not accurate. $6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation. An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises.”

To a billionaire, are those outcomes as attractive as the idea of being the guy who solved hunger in one fell swoop, or indeed one sale of stocks? Billionaires – like many of us – can have short attention spans, not just when it comes to their philanthropy. Charitable fundraisers have always been pressured to give honest, credible answers in good time, in exchange for donations. Elon Musk’s challenge to the WFP is a familiar one to any fundraiser proposing to solve a problem via donations, whether it’s curing cancer or youth unemployment.

Seeing the food system under scrutiny in this way seems vaguely welcome, having been largely unchallenged and left to its opacity since the Second World War.

All that’s new is that the potential donor has asked his question in public, over Twitter. Now, how will he respond?

How do we think he should respond? Elon Musk has people to go over the accounting in fine detail – he’s the billionaire. In principle, should he cash in $6 billion to make the world more fair? Come on, what the heck is he waiting for? We all know the answer to that question.

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Tags: Lawrence HaddadElon MuskCarin SmallerUnited NationsTeslaFamineThe World Food ProgrammePhilanthropyCharityGlobal Alliance for Improved NutritionDonorshungerDavid BeasleyInternational Institute for Sustainable DevelopmentBillionaires
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May Davies

May Davies

May Davies is a founding contributor to Quota. She is a freelance writer specialising in food systems delivered by the business and policy sectors. Contact MayDavies@quota.media.

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