16th of October, 2009 marks another usual day of the celebration of world food day. But for us in ActionAid International, this should actually be World Hunger Day. This is because as we celebrate this day, more than one billion people are hungry and have no food to eat.

This has come out clearly from the painstaking and thorough investigation and study carried out by ActionAid in 29 countries in the “developing” world and 22 rich countries.

The Scorecard Report: "Who's Really Fighting Hunger?" shows that one-third of world’s children are malnourished and since 2005, an extra 170 million people have been pushed into hunger which is equivalent to the populations of Germany, France and Canada combined. It is outrageous that hunger kills a child every six seconds and an equivalent of a classroom of thirty children die every three minutes.

The ActionAid study has brought out some key findings that should change the way the world deals with the challenge of hunger. First and foremost, the study shows that the ability and commitment to fight hunger does not depend on wealth.

We have found out that countries that have shown some great numbers in economic growth in the last few years like India have pushed an additional 30 million people into hunger because of its neo-liberal policies. But countries like Malawi which is one of the poorest countries on earth have been able to turn around the food crisis in the country in 2001 and 2004/5 such that in 2007, Malawi which requires 2 million tonnes of maize to feed its population of 12 million people harvested a surplus of additional 1.5 million tonnes which she exported to other countries.

Secondly, the study brings out clearly the central role of the State in tackling hunger. A clear example is Brazil which is on top of the league table of 51 countries examined. President Lula da Silva introduced a programme of Zero hunger and provided food banks, community kitchens, school meal for children and supported small holder farmers and was able to cut down on child mortality by 73 percent in six years.

Thirdly, the production of food for local consumption is key. A situation where people produce what they do not eat and eat what they do not produce is a calamity. This is why the famine and hunger in Kenya is deep with over 10 million people going to bed hungry every night and one in every ten Kenyans need emergency food aid, yet Kenyans export fresh vegetables and fruits to supermarkets in Europe.

Another key finding from the report is that biofuel production is fuelling hunger in the world. Last year, there was increased grain production but a good proportion of it ended in petrol tanks rather than in people’s stomach deepening hunger across the world.

The beauty of the report is that there are star countries that performed well in terms of fighting hunger from which we can learn: Brazil, China, Ghana, Vietnam and Malawi. These countries have demonstrated strong state leadership and support for small holder farmers, invested on social protection measures and have accepted the right to food as a fundamental human right with clear strategies and plans based on the right to food on how to ensure food security and food sovereignty.

Therefore as we celebrate the World Food/Hunger day, we must advocate for those policies that can free the hungry billion from hunger.

Download a copy of our Scorecard Report: "Who's Really Fighting Hunger?"

Otive Igbuzor
International Head of Campaigns
ActionAid International