If everyone on the planet followed a vegan diet, only one-quarter of the farmland currently used would be needed to feed everyone. ⅓ of food produced is fed to animals, despite this being a very inefficient transfer of calories and energy. One in every 9 people on the planet suffers from malnutrition. If everybody were to switch to a vegan diet, then an extra 4 billion people could be fed.
According to the UN, 10%, or 828 million people experienced hunger in 2021. In the same year, 29.3% of the global population was considered food insecure, equating to 2.3 billion people. This outnumbers the combined populations of the European Union, United States and Canada. With a global, political shift, all these hungry mouths could be fed with a move towards more sustainable production methods and by minimizing food waste.
Read on to learn some of the ways in which veganism can help alleviate world hunger.
Key Takeaways
Inefficiency In The Current Model
36% of crops farmed are being fed to animals. When these animals are slaughtered and turned into meat, only 12% of these calories make it back to the human consumer. This amounts to two-thirds of lost calories that could have easily been used to feed hungry people around the world.
Researchers have shown that growing food crops that are fed straight to humans would increase available food calories by 70%. This would equate to enough food to feed 4 billion people, which accounts for the predicted population increase expected by 2050.
Food Waste
It was estimated that 931 million tonnes of food was wasted globally in 2019, with 61% of this coming from households. 17% of food produced globally is wasted, and if we figured out a distribution system, then everyone could be fed without the need for any more food to be produced.
World hunger is a complex issue caused by many factors, including poverty, political instability, greed, climate change, war and forced displacement. Switching to a vegan diet could help achieve greater efficiency in land, water and calorie intake.
77% of land used for farming is for the raising of livestock, yet farmed animals only produce 18% of calories consumed globally. The fixation on eating animal products and dedication of such a large percentage of land and water for such a small output of calories is simply unsustainable. A radical re-shift is needed if humankind is to survive the challenges that the near future holds in store.
Water Use
Raising animals uses vast amounts of water, with one pound of beef requiring 1,800 gallons of water, whilst the equivalent amount used for plants is significantly less. Eating plants helps lessen the strain of the world’s rapidly diminishing freshwater supplies, the majority of the people affected are the poorest.
Inefficient water use can lead to droughts and water insecurity, with the brunt of the problem being felt by the world’s poorest in the global south.
Climate Change
Animal agriculture is a major emitter of greenhouse gases and environmental pollution. Switching to plant-based foods can help mitigate the damage that leads to food insecurity through droughts, floods, and extreme weather which wreaks havoc on harvests and food security.
Soil Health
Animal agriculture is responsible for an enormous amount of environmental degradation, including soil erosion, desertification and pollution. Adopting vegan principles of respect for all life can extend the extent of global compassion for all life, big and small, thus reducing death and destruction present in the current system.
Reducing Food Waste
It has already been mentioned how inefficient consuming animal products can be because of the large amounts of land, water and resources required. Once animal products are prepared, a large quantity ends up wasted due to the shorter shelf life of animal products in comparison to plant-based ones. Less demand for animal products and a shift towards a vegan diet would entail less wastage in the production, transportation and storage of food.
Developing nations globally grow many crops that are exported to feed livestock in other, richer parts of the world, leaving themselves without a food source and thus lacking autonomy. Redirecting this food back into the communities that are growing it would release dependence on outside sources and thus exploitation, empowering impoverished local communities back to self-reliance.
Enough people adopting a vegan diet could help expedite economic growth in developing nations, where large amounts of people are small-scale farmers. Worldwide adoption of plant-based diets could amount to a flourishing of economic opportunities by enterprising farmers by filling niches created by rising demands. Grains typically require a large acreage to be cultivated, disempowering small-scale farmers of which many of the world’s poorest happen to be.
Less global demand for animal products could result in lesser needs for so much grain, allowing farmers to grow more profitable cash crops, allowing communities to make value-added products from their produce.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Whilst veganism is not the sole way to tackle world hunger, it does provide a useful road map that can help reduce some of the inefficiencies of the current system. It can lead the way for a more ethical, sustainable and efficient food system which is in the interests of all global citizens. By eliminating or vastly reducing the resource-intensive animal-based agriculture, resources can be redistributed and inequalities reduced.
A global shift towards vegan diets could also help occasion an ideological shift towards a more ethical, mindful and sustainable food system, reducing environmental damage and lessening world hunger. Embracing vegan principles of respect for all life can help the world wake up to the solutions needed to eradicate global hunger.
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