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What Factors Are Influencing the Current Global Food Shortage
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Food shortage is one of the most pressing problems faced today by different societies all over the world. Though there is a large part of the society who can avail of having three full meals a day and a sad reality that excess food after mealtimes are sometimes thrown at the garbage, a great number of the population usually shown on the media are suffering a great deal because of hunger. Indeed, media coverage focuses on young gaunt faces and thin bodies with malnourishment slapped at the faces of viewers.
With the rotten food at the garbage can and the evidence of lack of food in the faces of hungry people, the world is confronted with the problem of global food shortage. Despite the initiatives of the government and private agencies, population, poverty, climate change, drought, increase in food and oil prices, and shortage of cropland and low soil fertility are factors that further worsen the current situation of global food shortage. Needless to say, man needs food to survive and to keep his body nourished. He needs food to stay strong to be able to attend to his tasks. He also needs food to be able to keep away from diseases and illnesses.
A proverb goes as far as saying that “we are what we eat,” which only shows how important food is to the human’s body and mental faculties. Unfortunately, there are people in some countries who do not have the liberty to eat nutritious food whenever they need to. This is a sad picture because food is a basic need that every man should have access to. The following discussions show why poor countries are suffering from hunger and food shortage. Population This scenario leads to a bigger picture. Poor countries’ lack of adequate food to feed millions of mouths is worsened by the growing number of people.
Some authors attribute food shortages to the fast-increasing world population. This is because the population growth rate is faster than the capability of agricultural system to produce food. This further leads to other problems, such as political unrest and uneven distribution of food (Pimentel D. , and Pimentel M. , 1999, p. 36). Ten years ago, 50% of the world population are said to be malnourished. The World Health Organization reported in 1996 that it was the largest number of hungry people recorded in world history. Furthermore, with the rate that the population is growing, it will grow to more than 12 billion in just 50 years.
With this pace, providing food is a difficult task for countries. As a result, the number of malnourished people would increase between four to five billion in the following years (Pimentel D. , and Pimentel M. , 1999, p. 36). As the population growth continues, natural resources are stretched to their limits. Population has also led to several other problems such as water shortage, climate change, shortage of cropland, and low soil fertility, all of which worsen the global food shortage (Population Connection, 2009). In addition, population has affected global supply. For instance, world cereal grains declined since 1983.
This is definitely a bad news, as cereal grains contributed 80% of world’s food supply. With this shortage, prices of cereal grains have increased. Countless number of people who relied on cereal grains as their basic food is faced with this dilemma. Sadly, the situation worsens each year. As the population grows exponentially, food produced increases linearly. On top of it, other problems, which in one way or another are caused by population, further threatens the capability of the world to produce food (Pimentel M. , and Pimentel D. , 1999, p. 36). Population has also given birth to consumption.
In developing countries and emerging economies, including China and Brazil, economic expansion has been the trend. These countries have experienced prosperity and changes in diets. With the global economic boom, these countries’ consumption of fish and meat has doubled since the 1990s. Furthermore, grain was removed in the marketplace, mainly due to the fact that seven pounds of grain are needed to produce a pound of meat. As a result, certain countries, such as China, shifted from being exporters to importers of corn (Insel, Turner, and Ross, 2009, p. 642). Poverty Malnutrition and poverty are interrelated.
Recent studies have come to regard poverty as a cause of rampant condition of malnutrition and hunger in developing countries. On the other hand, poverty can cause both malnutrition and hunger. Poverty often leads to more serious problems, such as inability of poor people to get out of their situation, impairment of physical and mental development, reduced capacity for work, retardation of child growth, and damage to health. To add to these problems, poor people are at a higher risk of contracting diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases (Shaw, 2008, pp. 10-11).
According to Insel, Turner, and Ross, poverty remains to be the major reason for chronic hunger among countries. Poor people lack access to food, water, and other basic needs. Poverty also hinders poor people from buying farming supplies to make their lands more productive. Moreover, it hinders them from having access to health care. Also, poverty does not only incapacitate individuals but the country as a whole. Economic development is hindered by bouts of poverty. This is especially seen on few jobs available and lack or inadequate resources to train health care providers (2009, pp. 643-644). Climate Change
Climate change is pointed as another contributing factor of global food shortage. True enough, farmers constantly deal with climate change every now and then and they are faced with variability and unpredictability regarding water supplies (Insel, Turner, and Ross, 2009, p. 642).
Several studies have shown how climate change affects agriculture, although the effect differs from differ,,,,,,………………………
What Factors Are Influencing the Current Global Food Shortage
