ABSTRACT
According to the most-detailed computer simulation of the long-term future of food availability, a projection of current demographic, economic, and agricultural trends will find as many or more hungry people in the year 2060 as there are today (Fisher and others, 1994). For those of us who would halve hunger in this decade and end hunger in the decades to come, this is a sobering condusion. But it should not and need not happen. It is possible to visualize a world without famine, with little seasonal or chronic undernutrition, and with virtually no micronutrient deficiencies and nutrient-depleting illness. But to end hunger will require a broad recognition of food as a basic human right, an increased food availability far in excess of increased population, an extensive growth in household income, a pervasive safety net of emergency assistance, entitlements, and special needs programs, and a capability to cope with the surprises of the future. And all of this will need to happen in a warmer, more crowded, more connected but diverse world with its economy, environment and institutions under considerable strain.
