The Aug. 24 editorial “World hunger decline is the fruit of growth” rightfully praised falling global hunger. Although this progress is encouraging, there is still much to do to address food insecurity.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization showed that child and maternal nutrition metrics are improving at a snail’s pace, with anemia rates among women of reproductive age climbing and less than one-third of children aged 6 to 23 months achieving a minimally diverse diet. And though incomes available for food increased relative to food prices, families’ ability to buy quality, nutritious foods is another matter. Investment must target affordability, especially for fruits and vegetables. Seventy to 75 percent of what consumers pay for a healthy diet accrues after the “farmgate,” which is the net price paid directly to a farmer for a product before adding transport, processing or retail cost. To address this, there should be continued funding along the entire value chain. Investment in infrastructure and fiscal support redirected toward high-cost nutritious foods rather than commodity grains are essential to drastically decrease the number of moderately or severely food insecure people, currently numbering 2.1 billion.
Eric Mitchell, Washington
The writer is president of the Alliance to End Hunger.
The July report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, which found that global hunger fell for a third straight year, brought genuinely good news. But I disagree with the singular conclusion in the Aug. 24 editorial “World hunger decline is the fruit of growth” that the best way to sustain progress “is to create conditions for economic freedom and the growth it brings.”
The report’s final chapter warned that shocks such as El Niño-driven droughts and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz spike fertilizer and food prices, rapidly reversing progress. I know from my work running the U.S. Agency for International Development’s long-term food security bureau and its emergency food aid programs that chronic and acute hunger require different tools, but both require government engagement.
The report’s prescription is not laissez faire: Government investment in agricultural productivity and rural infrastructure, targeted social protection, and coordinated action with the private sector are essential to combating world hunger. That the Trump administration dismantled USAID and that it refuses to fully spend food security funds appropriated by Congress are not side issues to this story. The U.S. government is stymieing the very things the report says progress depends on.
Dina Esposito, Arlington
The writer, a former director of USAID’s Office of Food for Peace, is a board member of Aid on the Hill.
Bring the score book back to the ballpark
Regarding Will Leitch’s Aug. 22 column, “The old-school tradition making a comeback at the ballpark”:
I, too, used to be a compulsive scorekeeper at baseball games. Keeping score pitch-by-pitch was as natural to me as breathing while taking in a game.
My passion, though, was minor league baseball. I often went to DMV-area teams’ games, but I also toured more than 80 ballparks over the years. My score book was my constant companion, and it was a great conversation starter when I attended games by myself.
My mementos include not only the written details of the game but also the ticket stubs (remember those?), which I taped in the back of the score book, as well as autographs of players who never made it to the major leagues, such as Pork Chop Pough and Bubba Smith, and mustard stains from hot dogs past.
These books are the ultimate souvenirs. When I look back from time to time, memories of the games and the strangers who became friends for nine innings flood back.
No T-shirt, ball cap or even photograph captures the experience quite the way these beat-up old notebooks do.
Daniel W. Keiper, Falls Church
Will Leitch’s column about attending and scoring games with his father brought back some fond memories for me.
I attended my first pro baseball game 70 years ago with my father in Shibe Park in Philadelphia, where the Phillies beat the Cincinnati Redlegs 10-6. Seeing Richie Ashburn, Del Ennis and Jack Meyer in the flesh was a thrill for a 9-year-old fan. I have attended many games over the years, which always involved looking at my card and filling out the scores in pencil.
On June 14, I went with my son and wife to see the Nationals play the Seattle Mariners. But when I asked to buy a program book and score book, the clerk told me that the Nats were no longer printing and selling them. I was crestfallen! However, Luis García Jr. threw me a ball in the stands. It was the first ball that I ever caught. So I wrote the date and score on the ball, and I cut out and laminated the box score that was printed in The Post. I will not be attending any more Nats games because I can no longer score them.
Joseph Scafetta Jr., Falls Church
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