The world’s population since 1970 has skyrocketed to an astounding 5.77 billion. In the mean time, a report has been issued saying that the number of hungry people today is less than it was almost 27 years ago.

This report stated that the hungry of the world in 1970 totaled 940 million, where today the total was 800 million. How can an accurate measure of today’s hunger problem be justified as an improvement based on a comparison taken from a span of 25 years?

One should be more concerned if the number of hungry climbed above the 940 million mark any time during 1970 to 1996.

In the past, the hungry of the world has been addressed with gimmicks such as songs like “We Are the World,” and commercials featuring hungry children that can be fed for pennies a day.

In reality, American farmers are paid to not grow crops because of a surplus of food.

The problem does not stem from a lack of food availability, but from distributional or logistical problems in getting food to the people in need.

Apparently, there can be enough food processed to feed more people than we do today. Food production and consumption can be designed to be more efficient without detracting from product markets or specific brand awareness.

With people starving around the world as well as in our own backyard, we cannot allow the hungry to become a trend we help when we like the song it supports, or when the number of starving across the globe drops in comparison to the rest of the population.

The real issue here is addressing what needs to be done to eliminate hunger all together. Not to pat ourselves on the back when we are meeting the requirements of the human race only half way.