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Tackling Hunger Globally

Hunger is one of the indicators of the magnitude of social injustices that exist in the

world. Its existence can be traced back very many years back. The French Revolution

in the 18th Century was driven not only by demands for political freedom, but also bythe lack of bread in Paris. Food has been the cause and effect of many riots occurring

whenever government policies caused severe economic hardship and clashed with the

basic human right to food. Tea was a non-edible food item that was used as a protest

tool by a group of Boston citizens, to protest the British tax on tea imported to the

colonies.

The food crises around the world prompted the establishment of the World Food

Programme. In addition, many other United Nations agencies have included hunger or

food security in their work programmes. These include: The United Nations Children

Education Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health

Organisation and the different United Nations missions to war torn countries.

The term ‘hunger’ is loosely defined and the meaning is often adapted to serve the

purposes of those who may be experiencing it. For many, especially in affluent

countries, hunger is the gnawing pain in the stomach when a meal is missed. On the

other extreme, hunger is the physical depletion of those suffering from chronic under-

nutrition.

Hunger is, however, multi-dimensional, encompassing the emotional and political

aspects of the society. It includes the anguish of a farmer faced with the choice of 

selling the produce from his farm, to pay rent for the land or feeding his family with

the food. It involves the grief of watching in helplessness as loved ones die for

breaking the practices and policies set by a handful of elites. Restrictions and laws are

put in place to ensure that the poor and hungry are forced to provide their labour in

exchange for low wages or small portions of food. In order to maintain the status quo, 

regulations are in place to reduce the chances of self-sufficiency for the poor. Even the

Indian government’s schemes of rice and wheat at extremely subsidized rates is a no-

go — either that grain finds its way to the black market or the quality is too poor to be

consumed by any human being.

Population growth has been believed to be the cause of hunger in some parts of the

world, as there is pressure on the world’s limited resources. Thomas Malthus, anEnglish economist, argued that population growth would inevitably outstrip the food

and water supply at some point, since productive land and safe drinking water are

finite resources. Mass starvation and anarchy would, therefore, be a consequence of a

high rate of population growth. This belief and the problem of addressing the needs of 

a growing population led to drastic measures to reduce the rate of population growth.

Hunger is a cause and effect of poverty. It is responsible for the debilitation of people

physically, physiologically and psychologically. The most abundant asset available to

the poor is labour, which could be used to earn a living. However, hunger means that

this labour is ineffective, entrapping the poor in hunger and poverty. For the abjectly

poor, the daily struggle of finding food for the family pushes aside any considerationof long-term development.

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While modern technology and medical research have discovered many innovative

ways of fighting many pests and diseases, famines has been a source of serious distress

for many years. The pressure to feed the world’s population has resulted in the use of 

marginal, erosion-prone lands and deforestation. This makes the environment more

prone to famine situations and the fertility of the land is undermined. Natural disastersare indiscriminate and affect the poor and rich alike.

An option to the hunger in present day is to reconstruct agriculture to be more self-

reliant and discourage specialization. Help from aid agencies has to be reduced by

increasing self-reliance, for that is a long-term measure. The development of farm

cooperatives should be encouraged to facilitate and support farming activities among

farm workers and urban migrants wishing to return to their rural homes. Increasing the

amount of arable land under cultivation can also enhance food security.

Reduction or cancellation of debts owed by farmers would be an incentive for their

increased contribution towards ensuring food security. The exploitation of farm

workers and small farmers is mainly because of their inability to exact a fair price fortheir labour and the goods they produce in a monopoly-controlled market. No wonder

the suicides have become a regular feature in the rural districts. Unless the work is

taken up on a war footing across the world, we will be put to shame repeatedly by

skeletal expressions of people in places like Somalia, Ethiopia, and closer home in

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh etc.