GROWING CALAMITY: AN IN-DEPTH REPORT ON GLOBAL FOOD INSECURITY In The 21st Century Essay

nutrition p sifts and the orbiculate demand for nutrition learn been on the rise in recent years. The catalyst for riots world-wide and sustenance risk has caused widespread disturbances in agricultural industries. nutriment peril exists when spate do not have adequate physical, social or frugal access to victuals (FAO, unite Nations 2009). It is captivating and renowned to mention that there is enough victuals to feed twice the earths population yet, forage is not macrocosm equally distributed. This renders a high percentage of the worlds population devoid and hungry. Local g everyplacenments, intellectual nourishment rights activists, worldwide trade institutions, and non-governmental organizations argon becoming increasingly concerned with intellectual nourishment dissemination and nutriment sovereignty (Schanbacher, 2010). Neoliberal processes that controldistribution and consumption are dominating policies regarding food work. global trade institution and multinational corporations dominate the entire food chain, and as a resoluteness the global food system has encountered a crisis. The food crisis that persists today is by no means a choppy disaster that has struck the agricultural persistence. It is the manifestation of a long-standing crisis in agriculture. Neoliberal global food systems have signifi squirttly circumscribed the dynamics of agricultural mathematical product and farmers no longer have control over the food they produce and are subjected to volatile markets (Borras, 2009). Data collected by the United Nations intellectual nourishment and coarse Organization between 2004 and 2006 shows that the number of undernourished people in the world has been steadily increasing for roughly twain decades. The report showed that there was little or no progress being made towards land Food Summit targets to reduce hunger and that most of the countries were perplexing from undernourishment (FAO, United Nations, 2009) .While lesser-developed countries do benefit from some aspects of neoliberal globalization, it must be s financial embolden that the same processes put marginalized societies at essay impoverished farmers are no exception. These vulnerable farmers endure diminished technological resources and face stiff competitor from capital-intensive foreign producers (Friedman, 2005). For decades the food industrys hegemonic agents have perpetuated liberalized and unsustainable food systems that have resulted in many countries to dropping victim to food danger. Such a grave and widespread problem warrants an in-depth exploration, to be carried out within this report. Beginning with a probe into the historical and contemporaneous challenges of food peril, this paper contends that structural changes at an international level are necessary to improve global access to sustenance. Case studies and multifaceted conceptualizations of the issue stop in the identification of viable solutions to e radicate food insecurity forever.HISTORICAL CONTEXTAlthough food insecurity is not a new phenomenon, the term was only coined in the mid-1970s, following a food crisis in 1972, which lasted for wiz year (Fulton, 2012). The magnitude of that crisis caused many to remark it, as the advent of food insecurity itself. Although it is a lot thought thatfood insecurity is a result of food scarcity, Friedmann (1982) pardons that food insecurity should be create by mental act as a structural turning point in the globes food action and distribution. Friedmann considers this first global food crisis to be the initial breakdown of the worlds food miserliness which sustained grain surpluses and depressed p sieves (1982). Fulton also attempts to draw our attention to the heart of the matter by referring to the ikon shift within the international food security discourse. Fulton (2012) contends that the analytical focus of the issue changed from food total management, to the assessment of pe oples ability to safely and consistently access food in a timely manner. In retrospect, the invention of new seed technologies, investments in rural agriculture, mod fertilizers and irrigation, caused many to be surprised by the catastrophe (Timmer, 2010). A variety of complex events, such as the oil crisis, rendered exploitation nations vulnerable and triggered the 1972 food crises (Friedmann, 1993). While some scholars regard oils radical price increases as the key catalyst to the food crisis, others interpret it differently (Fulton, 2012). Timmer for fashion model, suggests that the high food prices led to soaring crude(a) oil prices and that environmental catalysts were at the core of the 1972 food crisis (2010). Timmer goes on to explain that during the dry season in 1972 a severe drought, caused by El Nino, caused rice crops in Indonesia, Thailand and, the Philippines to be drastically reduced (Timmer, 2010). concisely aft(prenominal), domestic prices and demand for rice skyrocketed. To disturb domestic demand Thailand, the worlds leading rice exporter, banned rice export in April 1973. What followed was a nine months standstill in world rice markets. Countries were left to depend on rice imports to fulfill domestic demand for food. Residual effects of El Nino spread far across the globe and had devastating ramifications.In 1972 the worlds grain production decreased by 16 million metric tons (mmt), rice production dropped by14mmt and, wheat production diminished by 8mmt. Cumulatively, the total shortfall in world grain supply amounted to approximately 70 tons and repre directed an 8% reduction in global food supply. As a result of the shortage of food grains, prices rose. As a means of guranteeing their domestic food supply, oil-rich food-importing nation-states, reacted with an oil embargo against the United States and the former Soviet Union. Following the increase in oil prices, fertilizerprices also went up. The international company responde d to the crisis and the countries in dire straits, by formulating what Friedmann terms a temporary, elegant and dangerous solution (1993). The solution was to allege lavished transnational bank loans, financed by oil-rich nations (Friedmann, 1993). The global food crisis originated due to severe weather conditions that were exacerbated by financial turmoil. Together with the Cold War, these issues aggravated the socio-political and economic conditions which last lead to explosive grain prices. CONTEMPORARYCHALLENGES font STUDIESSince the food crisis in the early 1970s, benevolentity has witnessed a variety of countries declaring food emergencies, such as shortage. In the year 2006 alone, twenty- cardinal of the thirty-nine serious food emergencies were caused by the aftermath of violent actions, natural hazards or, a combination of the devil (Alinovi, 2007). Of these thirty-nine serious food traumas, several of these crises were on-going for years and, in some brasss for de cades (Alinovi, 2007). The impregnation and severity of a nations political conflicts dictates the impact that that conflict has on the food security. In certain instances it is impossible for some developing nations to overcome such dismal conditions. Since 1986, at least five African countries have been in a constant state of food insecurity for fifteen years, or more. A country that best embodies this is Somalia. Recent occurrences in the Horn of Africa, where hundreds of thousands of people died due to starvation, have been intumesce publicized and are easily-known by the general public. Without looking at the broader context, the mainstream media was quick to assert that the famine in Somalia was caused by severe drought. While it is correct that the region received the lowest rainfall that it had in sixty years, the famine was compounded by neglect. Two years prior to the famine, Islamist rebels prohibited most attend to agencies from working in Somalia and the rebels only rescinded the ban when the food situation there was officially labeled a famine. Famines are declared when, a third of the child population is acutely malnourished and when two adults or four children per 10,000 people die of hunger each day (Chossudovsky, 2011). Before and during the famine in Somalia, the atmosphere was one of lawlessness, gang warfare and anarchy all of whichcontributed to the famine (Chossudovsky, 2011). It is noteworthy to mention that this was not the first time that conditions were severe in Somalia. In fact, in 1992 thousands of citizens starved to death and far-reaching famines prompted international intervention. When president Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, Somalia effectively became a failed state and politically driven civil-wars led to impoverishment. United Nations peacekeeping forces were eventually pulled out of the country after two American B want Hawk helicopters were shot down in 1993.Another nation that exemplifies contemporary food insec urity is Sudan. In the typesetters case of Sudanese, the major catalyst for the crisis was the conflict between the central government and a rebel group, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) (Alinovi, 2007). When a country endures a civil war, an extraordinary amount of stress is placed on the civilian population. non only are hospitals, clinics, schools and agriculture services diminished, or closed altogether, trade links and communication networks are disrupted indefinitely (Dodge, 1990). The policies enacted by the Sudanese government are directly related to the level of food insecurity experienced in the countrys Nuba Mountains. The Unregistered Land Act of 1970 resulted in a grab for farming land and displaced peaceful Nuba villagers. In addition to disrupting the Nuba peoples agro-ecology, humanitarian aid in SPLA controlled areas was blocked (Pantuliano, 2007). These measures successfully disrupted the villagers conventional farming systems in favour of big mechanized corporate agriculture (Pantuliano, 2007). These two case studies are prime examples of nations that have suffered from food insecurity due to political conflicts, lawlessness and anarchy. It is clear that given the multidimensional nature of the problem, short-term humanitarian aid will not yield successful results. Consequently, a complex issue such as food insecurity requires multifaceted solutions.EXPLORING FOOD INSECURITYThe causes of food insecurity are as unique as the countries that are impacted therefore conceptualizing the issue requires that it be examined from varying angles. An inability to access adequate and nourishing food inevitably results in malnourishment. This section will examine whetherthe Malthusian theory can pay heed in obtaining a great understanding of the emergence and persistence of food insecurity. The Malthusian surmise of race refers to works by Robert Malthus. Malthus theory relies on the premise that two fixed factors are the driving forces of human existence food and passion between the sexes. Further, Malthus contends that unchecked populations grow exponential functionly, while food supplies increase arithmetically. These differing result rates are what Malthus believed caused populations to grow faster than their food supply according to him, this in turn causes food insecurity. Appendix A represents this concept visually. Malthus believed that when a high population is strained due to a lack of food, naturally occurring preventive checks keep the population from getting out of control (Drysdale, 1878). Essentially he believed that food insecurity itself was caused these checks (Drysdale, 1878). There are however many critics of the Malthusian Theory. Ester Boserup believed that a small population rattling restrains technological innovations and keeps agriculture at subsistence levels. Boserup asserts that major innovations in agriculture only occurred when food insecurity was a factor because it forced stupendous populations to define any means of sustaining its populace. Julian Simon was equally as vituperative of Malthus and regarded people as resource creators rather than, resource destroyers. Simon believed that population growth has a positive, and not a negative impact on development. Both Boserup and Simon contend that the Malthusian Theory of Population fails to sufficiently explain the causes of food insecurity (Malthusian Crisis, 2009).Critics go on to highlight another of Robert Malthuss shortcomings he did not withdraw into account human ability to intentionally control birth rate. The Malthusian theory states that food insecurity results in population controls such as food shortages, epidemics, pestilence and plagues. It is therefore possible for humans, given a lack of food, to simply decide to limit their reproduction. Malthusian theory also underestimates the possibility that food can increase at an exponential rate. Scientific advancements in the last few centuries have m ade the exponential growth of food production a reality (International Society, 2009). Neo-Malthusian theory, despite accepting human beings ability to control fertility and therefore the population growth rate, still fails to account for the progress being made towards increasing global food supplies(Acselrad, 2006). Many of the areas that experience food insecurity are in third world countries, which are characterized by very high birth rates. The concern now is to find out why food insecurity continues to exist. If Malthus theory has been disproven and there truly is enough food for everyone in the world it is extremely important, now more than ever, to examine other possible causes of continued international food imbalances.EXPLORING FOOD INSECURITY THE ROLE OF CORPORATIONSWhile Malthus was correct in his emphasis on technology and the environmental burdens associated with food production, in relation to the effects of food insecurity, he could not have conceptualized the far-re aching impact of large multinational agribusiness corporations. Contemporary industrialized societys agricultural economies are characterized by the commodification of food products, engineered from the farm to the dinner table (Drabenstott, 1995). This industrialized approach applies principals of economic efficiency to cultivation and, has resulted in a slippery slope of revenue prioritization achieved through the technological alteration of food itself. Biotechnology has enabled the food industry to increase crop yield and revenues through the isolation and incorporation of specific traits from other plants or animals, into food products (Drabenstott, 1995). While genetically Modified Organisms or GMO foods superficially appear to be reducing shortages, and by extrapolation food scarcity related deaths environmental damage caused by intense corporate farming and the high toxicity of GMO foods, actually work to undermine the worlds food security. Intensive farming by agribusiness es degrades the dent and increases the industrys reliance on chemicals. Fiscally sound, the application of pesticides during the food cultivation process produces greater yield and assures better storage and distribution of the product (Court, 2006). Generally utilise aerially using helicopters or airplanes, herbicides such as Atrazine are estrogen disruptors and increase the risk of Parkinsons disease (Aiyelaagbe, 2011). Herbicides often transported via advance runoff, leeches into the ground where it contaminates distant water sources and, can cause cancer after increased exposure (Aiyelaagbe, 2011). Toxins applied during production are inevitably transferred to the produce and have adverse effects on human populations worldwide. Genetically engineered ormodified foods have similar, unpublicized, adverse effect.Global leader in agribusiness ingenuity, Monsanto Corporations modified Bt corn was engineered with a bacteria bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterium produces the pestic ide Bttoxin aimed at killing insects during production. Appendix B illustrates this process. Monsanto Corporation told the public that the Bttoxin was all safe because it would be completely destroyed in the human digestive system however that was not a true statement. Studies have shown the pesticide to be present in the fetal blood of 80% of pregnant Canadian women tested (Smith, 2013). The full effects of the toxin are still apart(p) nevertheless preliminary research indicates that Bt may cause deformities in unborn children (Smith, 2013). Without speaking to the morality of the subject, technological changes to alter the biological processes of plants and animals for the purposes of increasing crop yield, is actually counter-productive to the goal of sustaining life. Corporations such as Monsanto facilitate modern industrial societys commodification of life sustaining nourishment. In short, the western corporatization of agriculture has left the world with a food system that n o longer functions to provide safe, wholesome and nutritious food for all people.SOLUTIONS & CONCLUSIONSFood insecurity can be found in every corner of the globe and is usually caused by drought, famine, natural disasters, war, political instability, economic upheaval and most recently, global warming. Although developed and developing countries alike suffer from varying degrees of the problem, the former suffers less often than the latter. As is the case in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in unseasoned Orleans, USA food insecurity can be a short-term problem, that if effectively tackled, can be rectified (Huffingtonpost, 2012). Food insecurity can also spiral into a long-term problem, as is the case in Sudan North Africa where political instability has fostered food insecurity in the region (Mensah, 2013). Food insecurity in most cases is caused by natural disasters (ie. earthquake in Haiti, tsunami in Thailand) where there is little or no warning. Natural disasters destroy in frastructure and food supplies therefore it is a necessity that nations be doctor in the event of any emergency. The first step to take when the problem of food insecurity arises is to valuate local needs. Need isdetermined by the causal factors of the crisis in a particular area. Conducting a all-encompassing evaluation, by examining key data on local assets, resources and, livelihood strategies is key to minimizing damage. For example, response teams could be sent out to meet directly with community members to better understand local conditions and create a cooperative plan of action to end food insecurity. The solutions to food insecurity can be classified into two categories short-term and long-term solutions. short-run solutions usually precede long-term solutions and are the first responses to emergency situations. Short-term strategies include the distribution of food, cash and other items to prevent food insecurity in smaller timeframe. An example of this can be observe d among the poor in the United States on food stamps and as well as in Haiti. Haiti received food aid and cash gifts from organizations and people around the world after an earthquake struck the island nation. Haiti has had a long history of food insecurity, brought about by political instability and poor governance. Long-term solutions to food insecurity are devised with a more stable future in mind.Technological innovations have proven to be the main source of hope for future food security. through and through technological innovation we can and have been able increase crop production to fight food insecurity and build stability internationally. Through sophisticated methods like genetic engineering, scientists have been able to substitute the DNA of crops in order to increase agricultural output. An example of this can be observed in the case of an apple an apple is about the size of a little pea, it started somewhere in Russia and it was indigestible at the time of discovery. The domestication of the plant has resulted in twenty thousand different varieties of the fruit, all originated from one plant species (Despommier, n.d.). This report, above all things, demonstrates that augmented crop yield does absolutely nothing to increase marginalized peoples access to food. Technologically driven agriculture is unsustainable and damages poorer populations only tool of self-determinism the land. Genetically modified foods and seeds contain diminished nutritional value and are toxic to human beings. Food insecurity in actuality, directly relates to socio-political issues that exacerbate the neo-liberal dilemma of unfair food distribution. Each country must therefore winnow out hegemonic policies and take their populations survival into their own hands. This reportcalls for return to subsistence farming. Importing food to meet domestic need, in constantly fluctuating and volatile markets, adds to the problem of unreliable food supplies. Neither entirely correct nor incorrect, Malthus had no way of accounting for globalizations impact on absolutely every facet of contemporary life. 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