Are we losing the war vs involuntary hunger?

The 2022 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on the prevalence and proportions of hunger was released on Nov. 20, 2023 (https://www.sws.org.ph). It showed that Filipino families experiencing involuntary hunger slightly dropped from 10.4 percent in June to 9.8 percent in September. But what is most concerning is the severe hunger or abysmal food security among 1.3 percent (or an estimated 270,000 households) of respondents that should be carefully watched, according to SWS founder Mahar Mangahas. After the survey period, it was reported that the current administration established a food stamp program as a priority project to help alleviate hunger in the poorest households.

An essential function of the survey is to raise public awareness about the problem of hunger. But has the general public become so desensitized to the soaring numbers that they are no longer shocked about involuntary hunger among many of us? How must we respond to it, individually and collaboratively? Amid our country’s rich natural resources, the obvious question is why are so many experiencing involuntary hunger and most likely dying of it?

The most alarming fact is that poverty begets poverty, and hunger begets hunger. Poverty and hunger in lethal combination put into play mechanisms that cause both conditions to persist. Thus, to end hunger, we must end poverty.

Indeed, while some of us may have an image of poor, hungry people as being lazy or lacking resolve, it is more likely that harsh socioeconomic conditions have trapped them in poverty and hunger. Accordingly, beyond seasonal dole-outs and politically-motivated solutions, there is an urgent need for policies and programs to empower them to escape the poverty trap.

The book “The World’s Most Deprived: Characteristics and Causes of Extreme Poverty and Hunger” (Ahmed, A. et al. Vol. 43. International Food Policy Research Institute, 2007) allows us to understand the most common causes of poverty traps more deeply.

First, despite a global trend of poverty shifting toward urban areas, poverty is still higher in rural areas. A household’s location—its country of residence and its location within the country—significantly impacts potential household welfare. It is one reason people from the province flock to the city where they believe there are more opportunities for them.

Second, the poorest and most undernourished households are located further from roads, markets, schools, and health services. They are not connected to essential infrastructure services like roads, markets, electricity, and water. Children from poorer families are also less likely to go to school. Third, poor adults are less likely to be educated and cannot invest in their children’s education because of limited access to credit and the lack of productive labor.

Fourth, landlessness is also a determinant of grinding poverty that must be assuaged. Fifth, there is a higher prevalence of poverty among ethnic minorities, disadvantaged castes, and persons with disabilities. The systematic exclusion of certain groups from access to resources and markets increases their propensity to be poor.

In this regard, Ahmed et al.’s recommendations are also instructive: improve access to markets and essential services for those in the most remote areas; provide insurance to help households deal with health crises; prevent child malnutrition, enable investments in education and physical capital for those with few assets, and address the exclusion of disadvantaged groups.

Given their access to much-needed resources, it is the political institutions that, among other shareholders, have almost unlimited power to address the plague of hunger in our midst. But government programs to lessen widespread poverty and extreme hunger have not achieved considerable progress since July 1998, when SWS first surveyed hunger incidence in the country.

As noted by economist Solita Collas-Monsod and numerous studies across the region, a significant factor here is the prevailing political culture in this country. “Let us admit that the country has ‘a surfeit of political leaders whose decisions supposedly taken for the public good, are in truth motivated by a desire for private gain and results in policies and projects that impoverish rather than enrich our country,’” Monsod said (“The ‘Buwaya Problem,’” Get Real, 1/8/22).As a country where religion is highly valued, there is a greater expectation from us, individually and collectively, not to look away but to show active compassion for our “kapwa tao” who have been deprived of their fundamental right to adequate food to promote and sustain their lives with dignity. As Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “If you cannot feed one hundred people, then feed just one.”

Noel Asiones holds a Ph.D. in theology and a master’s degree in social psychology. As a student of public theology, he seeks to preserve theology’s critical function vis-à-vis the church and society.