Five Myths About Hunger, Farmers, and How Food Systems Really Work

By Julieta Ocampo

The world produces food at enormous scale, yet millions of people still struggle to access a nutritious diet. Why? This blog challenges five common assumptions about hunger and explores how income, markets, farming, food processing, and economic opportunity shape what ultimately reaches people’s plates.

When we picture hunger, the image that often comes to mind is simple: there isn’t enough food.

The reality is much more nuanced.

People can live in countries with abundant food and still struggle to afford a nutritious diet. Farmers can grow food and still experience food insecurity. Agricultural production can increase without improving nutrition. And investing in farmers does not automatically produce good results for everyone.

Understanding these distinctions matters because the way we define a problem shapes the solutions we build.

At TechnoServe, we approach food systems as interconnected economic systems. That means looking beyond how much food is produced to understand how farmers earn a living, how businesses operate, how food reaches consumers, and whether markets create opportunities for people to prosper.

We talked to Dominic Schofield, TechnoServe’s senior director for agrifood systems, to debunk common myths about hunger and food systems, and here are five common myths that can get in the way of that understanding.

Myth 1: Producing more food will end hunger

There is an intuitive logic to this idea: if people are hungry, grow more food.

But producing more food does not necessarily mean that people can access or afford it.

Statistics make that disconnect clear. In 2025, an estimated 645 million people experienced hunger, even as the global food system continued to produce food at an enormous scale. Food is also lost along the way: an estimated 13% is lost between production and retail, while households, restaurants, and retailers wasted about 1.05 billion tonnes in 2022.

Food moves through a complex system before reaching someone’s plate. Farmers sell their crops to buyers. Businesses process and transport agricultural products. Retailers connect food to consumers. Prices determine what households can afford.

This is why increasing agricultural production alone cannot solve hunger. A food system must also make diverse, nutritious foods available and affordable to the people who need them.

What happens beyond the farm matters enormously for affordability. In fact, activities after the farm gate—including processing, logistics, and wholesale—account for 70% to 75% of what consumers ultimately pay for a healthy diet. 

At TechnoServe, this is one reason we work across value chains. Helping a farmer increase production matters, but so does connecting that farmer to reliable markets and strengthening the businesses that turn agricultural commodities into food people can buy.

Our work with smallholder dairy farmers in Mexico offers one example. In partnership with Danone Ecosystem, TechnoServe worked to strengthen dairy farming by developing more resilient farm and business models that allowed small-scale milk producers to sell directly to Danone. Farmers received technical assistance and access to attractive financing, along with a stable market and a guaranteed buyer for their milk. Making that model work required more than improving production on individual farms. It meant aligning the commercial and social incentives of farmers, the buyer, and other actors across the dairy value chain so that producers could build more viable businesses while supplying a reliable source of milk to the market.

Myth 2: Hunger and food insecurity mean the same thing

These terms are often used interchangeably, but doing so can oversimplify the problem.

Hunger is not simply the sensation of an empty stomach. People need enough food, but they also need the right combination of nutrients to live healthy, productive lives; that is why we also talk about hidden hunger: people often seem fine, but their minds, productivity, and health are being undermined because of inadequate micronutrient intake. Someone can consume enough calories and still experience poor nutrition.

The difference becomes clearer when we look at the scale of each problem. In 2025, 7.8% of the global population experienced hunger, while 25.8%—about 2.1 billion people—experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. Nearly 2.7 billion people could not afford a healthy diet, and at least 3 billion suffer from micronutrient malnutrition.

Food security takes an even broader view. It asks whether people consistently have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, and appropriate food.

That distinction changes the question from “Is there food?” to “Can people obtain the food they need to thrive?”

Once we ask the second question, affordability, income, markets, food quality, and consumer choice all become part of the conversation.

This link between income and nutrition matters especially in agricultural communities. Programs such as TechnoServe’s Mangwana project in Mozambique combine support to strengthen farm productivity and business skills with household nutrition education. The idea is practical: nutrition knowledge becomes much more useful when families also have the income and access needed to act on it.

Myth 3: Farmers don’t experience food insecurity because they grow food

Farmers grow agricultural products, but that does not mean everything they produce goes directly onto their family’s table.

For millions of smallholder farmers, agriculture is also a business. Crops are an asset they need to sell to generate income. That income pays for school fees, healthcare, housing, farm investments, and, importantly, other foods their families do not produce themselves.

This distinction is central to TechnoServe’s approach.

Since our founding, we have viewed farmers as businesspeople. Increasing farm income can give families greater ability to invest in their businesses and make choices about their own well-being.

It also helps explain why functioning markets matter to food security. Farmers need viable businesses just as consumers need affordable food. A stronger food system has to account for both.

Myth 4: Hunger can be solved at the farm level

Harvesting a crop is only one step in creating the food we eat.

Many agricultural commodities must be stored, transported, processed, packaged, or prepared before they become something consumers can safely and conveniently eat. Those activities also create jobs and business opportunities throughout local economies.

Processing is particularly important. It can extend shelf life, improve food safety and quality, reduce losses, and increase the availability of nutritious foods.

This part of the system also strongly influences price. Up to 40% of value-chain costs can accumulate in processing, logistics, and wholesale alone. Improving post-harvest efficiency can therefore make a meaningful difference in what consumers ultimately pay, particularly for perishable foods such as fruits and vegetables. 

That’s why TechnoServe’s food systems work extends beyond farms. We work with processors, entrepreneurs, retailers, and other businesses because what happens between harvest and consumption determines both the economic value created from agriculture and the food available to consumers.

Millers for Nutrition offers one example of this in practice. The coalition works with food processors across Africa and Asia to strengthen food fortification, but producing quality fortified staples is only part of the challenge. Those foods still need to reach the people who buy them. In Kenya, Millers for Nutrition is working with TechnoServe’s Smart Duka project to connect millers directly with small neighborhood retailers, known locally as dukas. 

Strengthening that link helps millers reach last-mile markets while making fortified staple foods more available through the shops where many consumers already purchase their everyday food. It is a practical example of how improving the connections between processors, distributors, and retailers can help nutritious foods move through the market and reach more people.

Myth 5: It doesn’t matter whether we invest in women or men farmers

Every farmer deserves the opportunity to succeed. But women and men do not always participate in agricultural markets under the same conditions.

Women farmers frequently have less access to land, finance, technology, information, markets, and decision-making. Ignoring those differences can mean that agricultural growth leaves existing inequalities untouched.

There is another reason women’s economic participation matters. Greater economic opportunity for women can influence household decisions, including how resources support family well-being. Evidence suggests that women with greater control over resources often invest more in nutritious food, healthcare, education, and children’s well-being.

For TechnoServe, this means looking at the conditions surrounding women farmers and entrepreneurs rather than simply counting their participation. Our programs work to expand economic opportunity while strengthening women’s ability to make and act on decisions that affect their livelihoods.

Looking at the Whole Food System

These myths share a common problem: they take something complex and reduce it to a single variable.

More production. More calories. More training. More food.

But people do not experience food systems one thing at a time.

A farmer is simultaneously a producer, a businessperson, a consumer, and a member of a household and community. That person operates within markets that influence what they can sell, what they can earn, and what their family can afford.

This is why TechnoServe approaches food systems through the lens of markets and livelihoods. We work with farmers and businesses to increase incomes, improve productivity, strengthen market connections, and create lasting economic opportunities.

Ending hunger will ultimately require more than producing enough food. It’ll require food systems that work better for the people who grow, sell, process, buy, and eat it.