Despite gains in reducing world poverty, 1 billion people continue to live on just a dollar a day — the accepted measure of absolute poverty. It was not a famine that precipitated the new crisis, but the economics of the global marketplace.
The Economist reports that “the middle classes in poor countries are giving up health care and cutting out meat so they can eat three meals a day. The middling poor, those on $2 a day, are pulling children from school and cutting back on vegetables so they can still afford rice.”
Starvation is an everyday prospect for those whose staple food is rice. The Economist warns that “the desperate — those on 50 cents a day — face disaster,” and refers to the worldwide rise in the price of food as “the silent tsunami.”
Blame it on the Saudi’s and OPEC. These price increases are directly linked to the energy costs associated with production and shipping.
I think he is talking about developing countries? In that case, I hate to say this, because I love meat cooked properly, but meat is not considered a staple in most societies. It is rather reservered for special occasions, and the protein comes from beans and other legume and vegetable products, and seafood for coastal communities.
Again, teaching proper agricultural techniques can take people much further than giving them food.
As for no land, one does not need a lot of land. In Haiti, square foot gardens are bing used on the roofs of houses where land is scarce or animals like goats would trample a ground garden.