Food Tech Leaves Rural People Behind

Technology enhanced food production has come a long way, but nearly an eighth of the population still suffers from chronic hunger. The United Nations' Kanayo Nwanze discusses what might help.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Today, we want to talk about food and security. Many people around the world just finished celebrating the major holidays Easter and Passover. They probably had big family and even communitywide feasts. But that reminded us that according to the United Nations, nearly and eighth of the world's population suffers from chronic hunger.

While that number is down since 2010, hunger persists despite unparalleled technological know-how. We wondered why hunger is still a problem in a wire, tech-savvy world. So we've called upon our next guest Kanayo Nwanze. He is the head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, or IFAD, at the United Nations, which works to fight hunger in rural areas. I caught up with him in our D.C. studios on a recent visit to the U.S. Kanayo Nwanze, welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.