The new breadline Hunger and hope in the twenty-first century

A noted food activist paints a dire picture of the likelihood of growing world hunger. Bauer, former director of the World Food Programme's operations in the Sahel, opens with a haunting anecdote as a mob breaks into a WFP warehouse in Haiti, loots it, and sets the now-empty building on fire. Doubtless much of the stolen food went into the storage rooms of the powerful. "We are in a broad, resurgent emergency that is unfolding because of extended conflict, emerging diseases, resource scarcity, and climate change," notes the author. Indeed, he writes, chronic hunger affects nearly one in nine people on the globe, and with the world population growing by 80 million people per year, remedies are in short supply. Bauer proposes many practical improvements at the local and macro levels. As to the latter, for instance, he argues that aid consisting of pallets of rice and beans is no longer sufficient; what we need is "sophisticated assistance, including analytics on humanitarian needs, digital platforms to manage benefits, and bridges to longer-term solutions." The author deeply explores the social-justice dimensions of hunger. Racial bias figures into aid equations, unintentionally or not; the global economy undercuts local ones so that, for instance, in Liberia, it's cheaper to import rice from Asia rather than grow it at home; legislation in many American states banning the sale of food from home kitchens discourages both entrepreneurship and allows food deserts to proliferate. Much of Bauer's discussion is economic in nature, but not inaccessibly so. He advocates for expanding digital payment platforms to encourage agricultural e-commerce for people without bank accounts, which could, he adds, "democratize banking and trade"--and feed the hungry, too, precisely by promoting small-scale, local, artisanal production. A clear-voiced call for ways to address the urgent need to feed billions of hungry people. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.