Famine

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Famine

Famine is widespread hunger and starvation. A region struck with famine experiences acute shortages of food, massive loss of lives, social disruption, and economic chaos. Images of starving mothers and children with emaciated eyes and swollen bellies during recent crises in Ethiopia and Somalia have brought international attention to the problem of famine. Other well-known famines include the great Irish potato famines of the 1850s that drove millions of immigrants to America, and a Russian famine during Stalin's agricultural revolution that killed 20 million people in the 1930s. The worst recorded famine in recent history occurred in China between 1958 and 1961, when 23–30 million people died as a result of the failed agricultural program, "the great leap forward."

Even though we may think of these tragedies as single, isolated events, famine, and chronic hunger continue to be serious problems. Between 18 and 20 million people, three-quarters of them children, die each year of starvation or diseases caused by malnourishment. How can this be? Environmental problems like overpopulation, scarce resources, and natural disasters affect people's ability to produce food. Political and economic problems like unequal distribution of wealth, delayed or insufficient action by local governments, and imbalanced trade relationships between countries affect people's ability to buy food when they cannot produce it.

Perhaps the most common explanation for famine is overpopulation. The world's population, now more than 6.2 billion people, grows by 250,000 people every day. It seems impossible that the natural world could support such rapid growth. Indeed, the pressures of rapid growth have had a devastating impact on the environment in many places. Land that once fed one family must now feed 10 families and resulting over-use harms the quality of the land. The world's deserts are rapidly expanding as people destroy fragile topsoil by poor farming techniques, clearing vegetation, and overgrazing .

Although the demands of population growth and industrialization are straining our environment, we have yet to exceed the limits of growth. Since the 1800s some have predicted that humans, like rabbits living without predators, would foolishly reproduce far beyond the carrying capacity of their environment and then die in masses from lack of food. This argument assumes that the supply of food will remain the same as populations grow, but as populations have grown, people have learned to grow more food. World food production increased two-and-a-half times between 1950 and 1980. Alter World War II, agriculture specialists caused a "green revolution," developing new crops and farming techniques that radically increased food production per acre. Farmers began to use special hybrid crop strains, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and advanced irrigation systems. Today, there is more than enough food available to feed everyone. In fact, the United States government spends billions of dollars every year to store excess grain and to keep farmers from farming portions of their land.

Many famines occur in the aftermath of natural disasters like floods and droughts. In times of drought , crops cannot grow because they do not have enough water. In times of flood, excess water washes out fields, destroying crops and disrupting farm activity. These disasters have several effects. First, damaged crops cause food shortages, making nutrients difficult to find and making any food available too expensive for many people. Second, reduced food production means less work for those who rely on temporary farm work for their income. Famines usually affect only the poorest five to ten percent of a country's population. They are most vulnerable because during a crisis wages for the poorest workers go down as food prices go up.

Famine is a problem of distribution as well as production. Environmental, economic, and political factors together determine the supply and distribution of food in a country. Starvation occurs when people lose their ability to obtain food by growing it or by buying it. Often, poor decisions and organizations aggravate environmental factors to cause human suffering. In Bangladesh, floods during the summer of 1974 interfered with rice transplantation, the planting of small rice seedlings in their rice patties. Although the crop was only partly damaged, speculators hoarded rice, and fears of a shortage drove prices beyond the reach of the poorest in Bangladesh. At the same time, disruption of the planting meant lost work for the same people. Even though there was plenty of rice from the previous year's harvest, deaths from starvation rose as the price of rice went up. In December of 1974, when the damaged rice crop was harvested, the country found that its crop had been only partly ruined. Starvation resulted not from a shortage of rice, but from price speculation. The famine could have been avoided completely if the government had responded more quickly, acting to stabilize the rice market and to provide relief for famine victims.

In other cases, governments have acted to avoid famine. The Indian state of Maharahtra offset affects of a severe drought in 1972 by hiring the poorest people to work on public projects like roads and wells . This provided a service for the country and at the same time diverted a catastrophe by providing an income for the most vulnerable citizens to compete with the rest of the population for a limited food supply. At the same time, the countries of Mali, Niger, Chad, and Senegal experienced severe famine, even though the average amount of food per person in these countries was the same as in Maharahtra. The difference, it would seem, lies in the actions and intentions of the governments. The Indian government provides a powerful example. Although India lags behind many countries in economic development, education, and health care, the Indians have managed to avert serious famine since 1943, four years before they gained independence from the British.

Responsibility for hunger and famine rests also with the international community. Countries and peoples of the world are increasingly interconnected, continuously exchanging goods and services. We are more and more dependent on one another for success and for survival. The world economic and political order dramatically favors the wealthiest industrialized countries, in Europe and North America. Following patterns established during colonial expansion, Third World nations often produce raw materials, unfinished goods, and basic commodities like bananas and coffee that they sell to the First World at low prices. The First World nations then manufacture and refine these products and sell back information and technology, like machinery and computers for a very high price. As a result, the wealthiest nations amass capital and resources, and enjoy very high standards of living, while the poorest nations retain huge national debts and struggle to remain stable economically and politically. The word's poorest countries, then, are left vulnerable to all of the conditions which cause famine, economic hardship, political instability, overpopulation, and over-taxed resources.

Furthermore, large colonial powers often left behind unjust political and social hierarchies that are very good at extracting resources and sending them north, but not as good at promoting social justice and human welfare. Many Third World countries are dominated by a small ruling class who own most of the land, control industry, and run the government. Since the poorest people, who suffer most in famines, have little power to influence government policies and manage the countries economy, their needs are often unheard and unmet. A government that rules without democratic support of its people has less incentive to protect those who would suffer in times of famine. In addition, the poorest often do not benefit from the industry and agriculture that does exist in a developing country. Large corporate farms often force small subsistence farmers off of their land. These farmers must then work for day wages, producing food for export, while local people go without adequate nutrition.

Economic and social arrangements, as well as environmental conditions, are central to the problems of hunger and starvation. Famine is much less likely to occur in countries that are concerned with issues of social justice. In the same way, famine is much less likely to occur in a world that is concerned with issues of social justice. Environmental pressures of population growth and human use of natural resources will continue to be issues of great concern. Natural disasters like droughts and floods will continue to occur. The best response to the problem of famine lies in working to better manage environmental resources and crisis situations and to change political and economic structures that cause people to go without food.

[John Cunningham ]