Upload
ashly-mutton
View
219
Download
2
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
World Hunger 12 Myths
Food First
https://commerce12.pair.com/~pront011/images/pubs/books/wohuco.jpg
Text adapted from 12 Myths about Hungerhttp://www.foodfirst.org/12myths
Myth 1
Not Enough Food to go Around• Reality:
– Abundance of food• 3,200 calories/person in
grains
• Also vegetables, beans, nuts, root crops, grass-fed meats, fish.
– Most people too poor to buy the food
– Many hungry countries are net exporters of food
http://www.alpha-random.com/pics/vietnam-food-market.jpg
Vietnam food market
Myth 2
Nature is to Blame for Famine• Reality:
– Food is always available • to those who can afford it
– Starvation hits the poorest
– Human institutions, policies • determine who will eat
during hard times
– Millions live near disaster• Deprived of land
• Debt
• Low pay
– Society values economic efficiency over compassion
Famine in Ethiopia
http://www.wfp.org/newsroom/img/indepth/0505_poss-famine-insurance.jpg
Myth 3
Too Many People• Reality:
– World is undergoing demographic transition
• Birth rates dropping due to decline in death rates
– No direct correlation between population and hunger
• Hunger in Nigeria– Sparsely populated
• Wealth in Netherlands– Densely populated
– Population growth due to poverty and inequity
• People’s lives must improve before birth rates drop
http://www.bvallc.com/pensionblog/uploaded_images/Crowd-702052.jpg
Myth 4
The Environment vs. More Food?• Reality:
– Environmental crisis• is threatening food
production
– Efforts to feed the hungry • are not causing the
environmental crisis
– Profits for developed countries are the problem
• Deforestation
• PesticidesDeforestation in Brazil for hardwoods
http://www.realestatetwincities.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/istock_000003249271devastation480x319.jpg
Myth 5The Green Revolution is the Answer
• Reality:– Green Revolution:
• Huge production advances with improved seeds
– But economic power• Still concentrated in hands of
a few• Poor cannot afford to buy
grain
– Hunger persists while grain exports have increased
• India• Mexico• Philippines
http://www.nbipsr.org/images/normbor.jpg
“Father” of the Green Revolution
Myth 6
We Need Large Farms• Reality:
– Large landowners control best land
• Often leave much of it idle• Often inefficiently farmed by
tenet farmers– No incentive
– Small farmers• 4-5 X output/acre• Work more intensively
– Land Reform • Distributes land to small
farmers• Successful in raising yields
Bolivian Farmer
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/images/wsci_01_img0012.jpg
Myth 7
The Free Market Can End Hunger• Reality:
– Market is efficient in distributing food
• If you can buy it
– To end world hunger via the market
• Must have widely dispersed purchasing power
– Is a role for government to help disperse purchasing power to the poor
• Through taxes, credits, land reforms
http://bp0.blogger.com/_D16GLAdKeZI/RfsmAW-yhTI/AAAAAAAAAQI/TmliZn1dSmA/s400/Market.jpg
Kenya Market
Myth 8
Free Trade is the Answer• Reality
– In poorest countries• Exports boomed, hunger
worsened
– Brazilian soybeans• Feed cattle in Europe and
Japan• Brazilian hunger grows
– NAFTA: “race for the bottom”
• Working people pitted against one another
– 1 million jobs lost in U.S.– 1.3 million jobs lost in
Mexico
Soybean Harvest in Brazil
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/05/business/soy600.jpg
Myth 9
Too Hungry to Fight for Their Rights• Reality
– People do fight for their rights• Mexico
• South Africa
– People will feed themselves if allowed to
– We need only remove the obstacles we have placed in their way
• Large corporations
• U.S. Government policies
• World Bank and IMF
Zapatistas in Mexico
http://angrywhitekid.blogs.com/weblog/images/ezln_campaign.jpg
Myth 10
More U.S. Aid Will Help the Hungry• Reality:
– Most U.S. Aid works directly against the hungry
• Aid used to– Impose free trade– Promote exports– Provide arms
– Emergency humanitarian Aid• Only 8% of total• Undercuts grain production
in receiving country• Benefits U.S. Grain
companies• Little reaches the poor
– Best Aid: relieve Debt burden
http://www.bread.org/assets/images/learn/food-aid.jpg
Myth 11
We Benefit from Their Poverty
• Reality:– Continued world
poverty and hunger • is a threat to
American– Jobs, wages
– Working conditions
– Helping free others from oppression
• Helps free us tooSweat Shop in India
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/clipart/jpeg/IndiaLarge/sweatshop_mumbai.jpeg
Myth 12
Curtail Freedom to End Hunger?• Reality:
– Civil liberties• Not threatened by ending hunger
– Economic security for all• Guarantees liberty
• Consistent with our nation’s founding vision
• Important for ending hunger
– Right to unlimited accumulation of wealth?
• Not compatible with ending hunger
• Contributes to inequity– Unjusthttp://k43.pbase.com/u36/jwalk/large/23732152.mansion.jpg