Historically, the biggest challenge to world agriculture has been to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food. At the level of individual countries, the demand-supply balance can be a critical policy issue for a closed economy, especially if it is a populous economy and its domestic agriculture is not growing sufficiently enough to ensure food supplies, on an enduring basis; it is not so much and not always, of a constraint for an open, and growing economy, which has adequate exchange surpluses to buy food abroad. For the world as a whole, supply-demand balance is always an inescapable prerequisite for warding off hunger and starvation. However, global availability of adequate supply does not necessarily mean that food would automatically move from countries of surplus to countries of deficit if the latter lack in purchasing power. The uneven distribution of hunger, starvation, under or malnourishment, etc., at the world-level, thus owes itself to the presence of empty-pocket, hungry mouths, overwhelmingly confined to the underdeveloped economies. Inasmuch as ‘a two-square meal’ is of elemental significance to basic human existence, the issue of worldwide supply of food has been gaining significance, in recent times, both because the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes, and because, in recent years, the capabilities of individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain. Food production, marketing and prices, especially price-affordability by the poor in the developing world, have become global issues that need global thinking and global solutions.

According to the above passage, which of the following helps/help in reducing hunger and starvation in the developing economies ?
1. Balancing demand and supply of food
2. Increasing imports of food
3. Increasing purchasing power of the poor
4. Changing the food consumption patterns and practices
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

The correct option/answer is 1 and 3 only (which corresponds to Statements 1 and 3).

Let us analyze the passage step-by-step to understand why statements 1 and 3 help in reducing hunger and starvation in developing economies, while the others do not: to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food.

1. Balancing demand and supply of food (Statement 1):
The passage explicitly states that "For the world as a whole, supply-demand balance is always an inescapable prerequisite for warding off hunger and starvation." Therefore, balancing demand and supply of food is essential to prevent hunger and starvation at a global level, including in developing economies. Thus, Statement 1 is correct.

2. Increasing purchasing power of the poor (Statement 3):
The passage notes that "global availability of adequate supply does not necessarily mean that food would automatically move from countries of surplus to countries of deficit if the latter lack in purchasing power." It further attributes the uneven distribution of hunger and malnutrition to the presence of "empty-pocket, hungry mouths, overwhelmingly confined to the underdeveloped economies." This directly implies that raising the purchasing power of the poor (filling their "empty pockets") is necessary so that they can afford and access the available food. Thus, Statement 3 is correct.

3. Analysis of other statements:
- Increasing imports of food (Statement 2): The passage mentions that food imports can ease constraints for an open, growing economy with adequate exchange surpluses. However, importing food does not solve the fundamental issue of hunger if the country or its poor citizens lack the purchasing power to buy that food, which is the primary challenge highlighted in underdeveloped/developing economies. Therefore, Statement 2 is not a general solution supported by the passage.
- Changing the food consumption patterns and practices (Statement 4): While the passage mentions that the "quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes," it does not suggest that changing consumption patterns or practices is a solution to reduce hunger and starvation. Thus, Statement 4 is incorrect based on the text.

Consequently, only Statements 1 and 3 are identified by the passage as key factors in reducing hunger and starvation in developing (underdeveloped) economies.