World Hunger 12 Myths
Food First
Text extracted from 12 Myths about Hunger
http://www.foodfirst.org/12myths
https://commerce12.pair.com/~pront011/images/pubs/books/woh uco.jpg
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
Vietnam food market
http://www.alpha-random.com/pics/vietnam-food-market.jpg
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
Famine in Ethiopia
http://www.wfp.org/newsroom/img/indepth/0505_poss-famine-insurance.jpg
– Society values economic efficiency over compassion
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 in Brazil for hardwoods • Deforestation • Pesticides
http://www.realestatetwincities.net/wpcontent/uploads/2007/10/istock_000003249271devastation480x319.jpg
Myth 5
The 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
“Father” of the Green Revolution
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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
Bolivian Farmer
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• Distributes land to small farmers • Successful in raising yields
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
Kenya Market
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• Through taxes, credits, land reforms
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”
Soybean Harvest in Brazil • Working people pitted against one another
– 1 million jobs lost in U.S. – 1.3 million jobs lost in Mexico
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
Zapatistas in Mexico • Large corporations • U.S. Government policies • World Bank and IMF
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
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– Best Aid: relieve Debt burden
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
Sweat Shop in India
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• Helps free us too
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
http://k43.pbase.com/u36/jwalk/large/23732152.mansion.jpg
– Unjust