How Engineers Are Helping to Solve the Problem of World Hunger

Engineers can solve many of the world's problems, like poverty and world hunger with their knowledge and inventions. I first saw engineering in action when I visited Colombia. I was amazed! Engineers had built escalators into the mountains allowing people who lived there to come into the city to work and feed their families.

Ending world hunger is important because more than 800 million people around the world are starving, including 300 million children. Scientists say that by the year 2050 that number will increase. Climate change is one of the main causes of world hunger. Children who are hungry cannot learn. Adults cannot be productive. Without proper nutrition people get sick. It's a vicious cycle. Too poor to eat and too hungry to work! Here are three ways in which engineers are contributing to the problem of world hunger.

The first is drip irrigation. It was invented by Simcha Blass, a water engineer, in 1860. According to Happonomy. org "Drip irrigation systems represent modern concepts of making good use of the water we have. They are highly effective and they can provide excellent results with very limited supplies of water. A drip irrigation system can make arid and sandy soils suitable for food propagation, which suggests that these systems may hold a possible solution to world hunger." In 2019, I went to the Sahara desert, where I saw the drip irrigation system in action. There, people would take the barriers up and down so that water could flow through tunnels on the ground to their crop for a couple hours. Then the next person would come and do the same thing. It would be great if there could be some way that engineers could set up a system so that the barriers could move up and down automatically for the Moroccans, but it's great that this invention exists because it improves the quality of crops as well as the amount of food. Our soil is endangered and scientists say we have less than 100 growing seasons remaining on earth. Systems like drip irrigation which work on dry sandy soils like the one in the desert will be very useful for the future.

Genetically engineered food (GMOs)are another way engineers are helping to solve world hunger. The DNA of the seeds of genetically modified foods is changed. This makes them more resistant to pests, disease and insecticides, so more food is produced. Unfortunately, some people say that GM crops can cause cancer, so that might not be a viable solution to solving world hunger. In my opinion, although it's a hard decision, it is probably better to eat GM crops today, and deal with the risks later rather, than allowing yourself to starve to death.

Finally there is a satellite created by NASA engineers called SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) that can measure soil moisture using special instruments. Lack of moisture in soil is a big problem in the world. The satellite calculates soil moisture across the world every three days and with an extremely high level of detail too! It flies about 426 miles above the earth and measures the amount of water in the top two inches of soil. This is important to helping to predict floods and droughts and can also predict how much food farm crops will produce. So it's a warning system that can allow us to prepare for food shortages and know where help may be needed.

We all have to play a part in helping to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Engineers have a very important role to play and I believe I have demonstrated three ways in which they are contributing to help solve the problem of world hunger; irrigation, satellites and genetically engineered seeds.

Bibliography

Fethi Thabet: How The World’s Engineers Can Make Hunger History - Farming First : April, 9, 2015 by Fethi Thabet-How The World's Engineers Can Make World Hunger History

ITT (50breakthroughs.org)-Food Security and Agriculture Biotic Stresses

Drip Irrigation to Solve World Hunger? - Happonomy Name of article: Drip Irrigation to Solve World Hunger? Date: February, 19, 2015 

Are Genetically Modified Crops the Answer to World Hunger? | National Geographic Society January, 28, 2020, Are Genetically Modified Crops the Answer to World Hunger?

Mission: SMAP | NASA Climate Kids