Solution to Poverty and Hunger

If you are never hungry, you cannot know God. The times when you
are hungry are opportunities to be nearest to God. When you are
hungry and are able to look humbly at each approaching person as
if he were a close family member who wants to help him, then you are
more likely to be fed. In such situations, it is important to maintain a
sympathetic heart of goodness.
Hunger is not an issue relegated to less-developed areas of the world.
Even in the United States, which enjoys one of the highest standards
of living in the world, there are people who are undernourished and
hungry. When I went to the United States, one of my first projects was
to purchase trucks to be used for the distribution of food to the poor.
The situation in impoverished countries is unspeakably worse. When
I look at the world situation, I feel that securing sufficient food supplies
is the most pressing problem. Solving the food crisis cannot be put off for
even a moment. Even now, some twenty thousand people around the world
die of hunger-related causes every day. We cannot afford to be apathetic just
because we and our immediate families are not facing hunger.
Simply distributing food supplies by itself will not resolve hunger,
though. A more fundamental approach to the problem is needed. I
am considering two fundamental and concrete methods. The first is to
provide ample supplies of food at low cost, and the second is to share
technology that people can use to overcome hunger on their own.
The issue of food will present humankind with a very serious crisis
in the future. We cannot build a world of peace without first resolving
the food issue. Sufficient food supplies for all the world’s population
cannot be produced on the limited amount of land area that is currently
available. We must look to the oceans for a solution. The oceans hold
the key to solving the food crisis of the future. This is the reason I have
been pioneering the oceans for the past several decades.
In Alaska, pollack smaller than fifteen inches long are used for fertilizer.
They would make wonderful food, but people don’t know how to
prepare them so they use them just for fertilizer. As recently as twenty
or thirty years ago, we could ask Westerners to give us the tail of an ox
and they would let us have it for free. Koreans are very fond of food
prepared with the bones or the intestines of cows, but some Westerners
do not know that these are edible.
The same is true with fish. About 20 percent of the world’s fish catch
is thrown out. Whenever I see this, I think of the people who are dying
of hunger, and I feel pain. Fish is a much more reliable source of protein
than beef. How wonderful it would be if we made fish cakes or fish
sausages to give to people in impoverished lands!
Once this thought came to me, I started projects to process and store
large volumes of fish. It does not do any good to catch large amounts of
fish if you cannot handle them properly after the catch. Even the best
fish cannot be kept well for more than eight months. Even if they are
frozen and placed in refrigeration, air gets in through cracks in the ice,
and water escapes. You could pour water on the fish and freeze them
again, but by then the best flavor is already gone and the fish might as
well be thrown out.
We gathered fish that were being thrown out and researched how to
turn it into fish powder. We sought to do something that even advanced
countries like France and Germany have not done. Fish turned into
powder could be transported and stored easily, even in hot and humid
climates. Fish powder is 98-percent protein, among the very highest
protein content of all food products. For this reason it can be used to
save people from dying of hunger. Fish powder could also be used to
make bread. We are still searching for ways to make it available to impoverished
countries around the world.
The oceans contain limitless food supplies, but the best method for
saving humanity from the food crisis is fish farming. I foresee that there
will be buildings, similar to the skyscrapers we see in our cities today,
devoted to fish farming. By using water pipe systems, we can farm fish
in tall buildings or even on the tops of mountains. With fish farming we
can produce more than enough food to feed all the world’s people.
The ocean is a blessing bequeathed to us by God. When I go out on
the ocean, I am completely absorbed in fishing. I have caught all kinds
of fish in different countries. One reason I fish is so I can teach people
who don’t know how to fish. In South America I spent several months
showing local people my fishing methods. I took in tangled fishnets myself
and spent three or four hours showing them how to untangle them.
To secure adequate supplies of food at a low cost, humankind will
need to develop the ocean. This and the great grasslands that are still
in their prehistoric state are our final storehouses of wealth. This task,
though, will not be easy. It will require us to go to places that are so
hot and humid that moving around and working hard with a strong
sense of dedication become very difficult. Developing the grasslands in
tropical regions cannot be done without a love for humankind that is
passionate and dedicated.
Jardim, in Brazil, is just such a place. It is a quite difficult place to
live. The weather is hot, and bugs that have not even been named yet
are continuously biting. I lived in that place and made friends with all
its various creatures. I walked around barefooted, feeling the red soil
of Jardim beneath my feet, looking just like a peasant farmer. When I
was at the river catching fish, I looked like the local fishermen. It is only
when the local people look at you and say, “You really are a farmer,”
or “You really are a fisherman,” that you are qualified to receive their
knowledge and share your own knowledge with them. It is not something
that can be done by someone who needs to sleep eight hours a
night in a clean and comfortable bed, eat three square meals a day, and
take naps under a shady tree.
When we were developing a project in Paraguay, a group of our
members and I were living in a small hut in Olimpo. There was only one
toilet, and each morning we had to take turns using it. I would get up
each morning at three o’clock, do some exercises, and then go fishing.
Because of this, the members who were with me went through some
very difficult times. It was usual for them to be cutting bait early in the
morning before they were completely awake.
When we took the boat out, we had to cross through a number of
other properties in order to reach the mooring site. Unlocking the gates
to these properties in pitch darkness was difficult. One morning when
the members were fumbling with a lock, unable to open it, I yelled at
them, “What are you doing?!” I shouted so loudly and fiercely that I
surprised even myself, so I am sure it must have been difficult for them.
But I feel that I cannot afford to waste so much as a single second. I
don’t have any time to be idly standing around. I can clearly see a list of
all the things I must accomplish before there can be a world of peace, so
my heart is always in a hurry.
When I fished there on the river before dawn, the mosquitoes would
swarm like a dark cloud. Their stingers were so sharp they would pierce
right through a pair of jeans. In the predawn darkness we could not see the
floats on our fishing lines, so we had to attach white plastic bags to them. I
could not wait for the sun to come up. I was in too much of a hurry.
I still miss Jardim. I miss everything about it. When I close my
eyes, I can still feel the heat of the Jardim air pressing against my face.
The minor inconveniences to my body were nothing. Bodily suffering
passes quickly. What is important is that this place can one day play
a significant role in serving the world. Being in Jardim brought great
happiness to my heart.