Eloise Diergaardt

Introduction

In recent days a lot of contributing factors have been noted which are causes of hunger. All of them are inter-related to poverty. These causes include Conflict, war, climate change, natural disasters, agricultural infrastructure and political system. All will be discussed during the course of this paper.

Food has never before existed in such abundance, so why are 925 million people in the world going hungry? In purely quantitative terms, there is enough food available to feed the entire global population of 7 billion people. And yet, one in nearly seven people is going hungry. One in three children is underweight. Why does hunger exist? Hunger is more than just a result of food production and meeting demands. The causes of hunger are all related to the causes of poverty. The various issues discussed throughout this paper about poverty lead to people being unable to afford and hence people go hungry.

In our advance century that we live in hunger is the main cause of death. It not only affects Africa but the rest of the world. Many issues have been raised during the past years that have an influence on hunger. One of the most influential causes of hunger would be conflict. Conflict is one of the main reasons for poverty, which in consequence cause hunger. The conflicts nowadays are becoming more protracted and more damaging to the civilians than ever before. Conflict primarily breaks out between or within the poorer states. The last three numbers of years have witnessed a significant increase in the refugee numbers due to the violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. From Asia to Africa to Latin America, fighting displaces millions of people from their homes, leading to some of the world’s worst hunger emergencies. In war, food sometimes becomes a weapon. Soldiers will starve opponents into submission by seizing or destroying food and livestock and systematically wrecking local markets. Fields and water wells are often mined or contaminated, forcing farmers to abandon their land.

Some Causes of Hunger

Climate Change

Climate change is also affecting millions of already struggling farmers. It is seen as a future major cause of hunger and poverty. Inability to grow food will increase dependence of the poor countries on the rich ones. Rice and maize, two of the world’s most important crops, on which hundreds of millions of people depend, face significant drops in yields. Climate changes will also increase the number of diseases and their reach. Many diseases are already migrating as the temperatures rise.

Nature

Another important factor contributing to hunger is Nature. Natural disasters such as floods, tropical storms and long periods of drought are on the increase, with calamitous consequences for food security in poor, developing countries. Drought alone is now the most common cause of food shortages in the world. Recurrent drought caused crop failures and heavy livestock losses in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. In many countries, climate change can be exacerbating already adverse natural conditions. For example, poor farmers in Ethiopia traditionally deal with rain failure by selling off livestock to cover losses and pay for food.

Agricultural Infrastructure

Agricultural Infrastructure output offers the quickest fix for poverty and hunger. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2004 Food Insecurity Report, all the countries that are on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal have something in common- significantly better than average agriculture growth. Yet too many developing countries lack key agricultural infrastructure, such as enough roads, warehouse for storage and irrigation. The results are high transport costs, lack of storage facilities and unreliable water supplies. All conspire to limit agricultural yields and access to food. Although majority of developing economic planning often emphasizes urban development.

Political Systems

Then there are the much debated Political (Economic) Systems. Actions taken by many governments of African and Asian countries are marked by ineffectiveness and corruption. Essentially control over resources and income is based on military, political and economic power that typically ends up in the hands of the minority, who live well, while those at the bottom barely survive, if they do. Corruption added on top of that causes further unproductive allocation of resources.

Conclusion

The causes of hunger has been defined and summarized and has been a much raised topic globally and by various organizations. Poverty is said to be the fundamental cause of hunger. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia and especially East Asia, with major improvement occurring in China. The poverty trap is a global aspect of hunger and in developing countries, farmers often cannot afford seed to plant the crops that would proved for their families. Craftsman lack the means to pay for the tools to ply their trade. Others have no land or water or education to lay the foundations for a secure future. Because no money is available for education poor farming practices, deforestation, over cropping and overgrazing are exhausting the Earth’s fertility and spreading roots of hunger. Increasingly, the world’s fertile farmland is under threat from erosion, salination and desertification. The poverty stricken do not have enough money to buy or produce enough food for themselves and their families. In turn, they tend to be weaker and cannot produce enough to buy more food. In short, the poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.

  Reference List

1. http://www.wfp.org
2. http://www.globalissues.org
3. http://www.gmfc.org
4. Riches ,First World Hunger: Food Security and Welfare Politics. 2008