IV. Causes of Poverty and Scarcity of Food The world produces enough to feed the entire global population of 7 billion people however hunger still persists that one out of eight people on the planet does not have three meals a day and goes to bed hungry at night. In some countries, one out of three children are underweight. There are many reasons for the presence of hunger in the world. The World Food Programme highlighted six main reasons that cause the scarcity of food and poverty. The following reasons are poverty trap, lack of investment in agriculture, climate change, war and displacement, unstable markets and lastly food wastage. First, is a situation where people who are living in poverty cannot afford food for themselves and their families’ much less nutritious food which becomes the reason that makes them weaker and less able to earn the money that would help them escape poverty and hunger known as Poverty Trap. According to the World Food Programme this is not just a day-to-day problem because when children are chronically malnourished, or ‘stunted’, it can affect their future income, condemning them to a life of poverty and hunger. For instance in developing countries, farmers often cannot afford seeds, so they cannot plant the crops that would provide for their families. They may have to cultivate crops without the tools and fertilizers they need. Others have no land or water or education. In short, the poor are hungry and their hunger traps them