For one person in every seven, hunger is a daily reality. As a result of the recent food price crisis, the number of people suffering from hunger has soared. Most of them live in rural areas, and the majority of the chronically undernourished are women and children.  

Hunger and malnutrition restrict children’s physical and mental growth, limit adults’ performance capacities, and increase susceptibility to disease.

The main cause of hunger is poverty – triggered, for example, by lack of access to land and other productive resources.

Moreover, many countries are dependent on cheap food imports, and therefore on the world market. The situation is exacerbated by climate change, a continually growing world population and more competition for limited resources such as land and water. Civil wars and natural disasters are also the causes of hunger in some regions, as are corruption and bad governance.

Without sustainable development of the agricultural sector, long-term food security for poorer sectors of society cannot be achieved. Promoting agriculture and rural areas while also protecting natural resources is therefore a key goal of German development cooperation. In this way, Germany is helping to realise the right to food for everyone in its partner countries and contributing to sustainable rural development.