A Dream for a Better World

Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry. The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world’s poor – who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food – into hunger and destitution. The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world’s richest food companies are making record profits.  Monsanto reported a net income for a three month period had more than doubled while Cargill’s net earnings soared by 86% over the same three month period.

Global Power Centers, while trying to develop policies to alleviate common global problems, are actually acerbating the problem of world hunger.  For example, while promoting agrofuels under the guise of environmental protection (through the replacement of fossil fuels) and the green label of “bio” fuels, millions of hectares of land are being turned over to the production of food for automobiles.  Basic food crops like corn are no longer being raised to feed humans, but instead to produce ethanol.  In addition, lands that once produced food have been taken over by sugarcane or soybean monocultures to produce agrofuels. In both cases, the result is a dwindling supply of foodstuffs, leading to soaring prices; and presents a lack of access to food among the poorest and most vulnerable.  The only thing that world governments have succeeded in “developing” is profits of large transnational corporations, at the expense of human hunger and environmental destruction.  

One problem behind world hunger is that many developing countries, where hunger is most severe, owe hundreds of billions of dollars in debt to many of the developed countries, thus money governments should be investing in their local region gets spent on repaying the debt instead.  Negotiations are underway to pressure governments from developing nations to cancel the debt owed by these less developed countries.  Another factor behind world hunger is the fact that most food is produced in developing nations.  Because of this, the huge cost of packaging, transporting and distributing the food increases the cost of food exorbitantly.  When food can be produced in greater quantities more efficiently in areas geographically closer to where it is needed, costs for this food are reduced. When food costs less, more people can buy sufficient amounts to feed themselves and their families.

Although the standard of living has risen all over the world, there are still many parts where people are living in abject poverty. The world hunger statistics point out to the fact that not everything is rosy with the world and still a lot needs to be done. Developed countries can take the initiative and contribute their might towards solving this problem. They can reach out to the poor countries and help them out of the food crisis that they are faced with. Every individual on their part should make it a point to not waste food. This would be in a way our humble contribution towards fighting world hunger.

Most of the worlds food come from only small percentage of ariable land. And in places like Africa, the farmers working these lands get very in return for trying to feed the world. A couple of days ago the BBC listed a report warning that if more investment is not put into educating and training the worlds farmers than very soon an epidemic of hung.er will emcompass much of the developing world. The report suggested if we don´t reward the custodians of the land, more workers will head to urbanized areas leading to further problems with the world food supply

They once called it the grain basket of Africa, now it suffering a major hunger crisis, and why? Because of a government that refuses to accept its own failings. Zimbabwe has a starving population because the farms are not being worked properly, the inflation has made the price of food too expensive, and most of the population is unemployed. And all this has only happened in the past few years. How much longer are the people supposed to starve and suffer before we step in and do something? How many people need to die of hunger in a country that could be giving food to other hungry nations?

Are we doing enough to end world hunger?  Should we end it at all?  When animals outnumber the food supply nature causes some to die of hunger.  By preventing world hunger are we causing more problems down the line?  If we should stop world hunger are we doing enough?  Are some of these charities taking too much of the pie before the food and money gets to the poor?