I accidentally came across Professor Richard Robbins' writing,my eyes were glued to his notes as to why people go hungry in the world of plenty.I have read and heard much of the huge number of people who are hungry but I could not fully understand why almost a billion people go to bed hungry everyday when the world produces more than the population needs.It grieve me to learn that the highest percentage of the hunger victims are women and children.As I continued to read the notes I quoted Professors Richard's words that said "To
understand why people go hungry you must stop thinking about food as something
farmers grow for others to eat, and begin thinking about it as something
companies produce for other people to buy..."It made little sense to me until i further read his notes,he described food to be a commodity.He stressed that people who don’t have enough money to buy food on an estimation of more
than one billion earn less than $1.00 a day and they simply don’t count in the
food equation.in other words,if you do not have money to buy food no one is going to grow it for you.He yet put it another way to say"You would not expect The GAP to manufacture clothes,Adidas to manufacture sneakers or IBM to provide computers for those people earning a $1.00 a day or less,likewise,you would not expect ADM(Supermarkets to the world) to produce food for them."
This clearly indicate that the the problem is not inadequacy but accessibility of the food by those who are undernourished and are really in need of the food.Just as the sneakers are right on the shelves of the shops but without money you can not have them.The same way food is right on the plates but without money you can not access it.Understanding this somehow I figured out why women and children are the most victims of hunger.Well one of the reason would be lack of their participation in the Labor force that deny them opportunities of being economically empowered,social suppression and many other factors that we all know surround women too would be a contributing factor to this high percentage.
With such a highlight,it plainly indicate that poverty is the major or root cause of hunger thus to say hunger is an effect of poverty and poverty is largely a political issue manifested as an economic issue as we can see that food is rated as a commodity and requires money thus leading us to the economic view point of the matter.politics greatly influence how food is produced, who
it is produced by,who benefits and for what purposes the food is
produced such as exporting rather than for the hungry, feedstuffs, etc. In most cases we tend to find that million acres of land are privately owned and the owners are those subjected to power.The best agricultural land in the world is used to grow commodities such as cotton,sisal,tea,tobacco,sugarcane and cocoa,items that are non food products or marginally nutritious but for which there is a large market.This brought me a picture of the big tea estates i have been to in Thyolo the sourthen region of Malawi.The time i have been in the tea estates i never could imagine if this whole land was to be used for food crops,i now try to imagine what could it be like?could we ever go hungry at some point as a nation? More questions kept coming as to who own this land?who is benefiting from the produce?I realised that despite having few Malawians owning such big estates(not only the estates in Thyolo but other tobacco and cash crop estates across the nation),most of the tea and coffee estates are owned by foreigners who cultivate to sell to their mother land as exports.If you happen to be in one of these estate you agree with me that most of the Laborors are the victims of hunger and many of them are women and children.There is an increased child labor in these estates and the Labor earnings are queit pathetic.As a result you find out that many of these children do not go to school as they struggle to earn a dime so they can at-least buy food or support their families and they happen to be victims of multiple problems such as illiteracy, poverty,hunger,health issues and many other problems.This shows that to get rid of hunger we need to fight poverty in the first place.
There should be an assurance that people gets enough money or the means to acquire it to buy and create a demand for food markets.With the rising population it is easy to
say that the fast growing population in some parts of the globe is a source of
hunger and poverty.that is not so true as we all know that the world produces more than the needs of its population but i do believe it is the international trade, economic policies
and the control of land that have lead to immense poverty and hunger and
therefore less access to food.Most poor countries have taken this to be a way
of seeking for food aid from rich countries so as to meet the food demands of
their population.To some extent this is a bad omen for countries or governments
to rely on such schemes. Food aid especially that which is not for
emergency purposes can actually be very destructive on the economy of the
recipient nation and contribute to more hunger and poverty as time goes.
Free, subsidized, or cheap food, below market prices undercuts local farmers,
who cannot compete and are driven out of jobs and into poverty.Many poor nations are dependent on farming, and so such schemes of food aid leads to the destruction of local farmers and their
production, while supporting and bolstering large agribusiness.It is therefore important for governments to make policies that will appropriately govern the local markets for the benefits of the small farmers.and the nation as a whole.
Unless our politicians bring in some reforms that will be looking in needs of the life of those people living in rural communities and the less privileged as far as hunger is concerned,we will be able to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger in our nation.Many of you can agree with me that most of the farm productions take place in the rural communities but it is these communities that suffer the most with hunger and poverty.It is rare to find a family going without food in urban areas as it is in rural communities.It is rare to find a child who does not go to school in urban areas as it is in rural areas and it is indeed rare to find a woman victim of maternal health in urban areas as it is in rural areas.Even the gender equality and empowerment of women Gap in the urban and rural areas is quiet huge despite that we are still struggling for it in our nations as a whole.It is these rural residents that are highly susceptible to environmental injustice,it is hard for accessibility of medical facilities as pertaining to diseases like Malaria just to mention a few for these people.You will find out that the small medical facilities mostly health centres located in our rural areas do not even have a laboratory to do the rapid malaria test.At times it would even operate without drugs not even a mere pain killer.This keep on leaving behind the development of the communities which influences the development of the nation as whole.
Basing on these facts it is certain that meeting one of the Millennium development goals greatly influences the rest of them as it interrelates to the growth of a human being,growth of a nation as well as open up solution to the next problem that was unlocked.
FIGHT HUNGER AND POVERTY,TALK ABOUT IT,DON'T WAIT UNTIL YOU WITNESS A CRISIS!!!
