World Hunger 12 Myths
Food First
Text extracted from 12
Myths about Hunger
http://www.foodfirst.org/12myths
https://commerce12.pair.com/~pront011/images/pubs/books/woh
uco.jpg
Myth 1
Not Enough Food to go Around
• Reality:
– Abundance of food
• 3,200 calories/person in
grains
• Also vegetables, beans,
nuts, root crops, grass-fed
meats, fish.
– Most people too poor to
buy the food
– Many hungry countries
are net exporters of food
Vietnam food market
http://www.alpha-random.com/pics/vietnam-food-market.jpg
Myth 2
Nature is to Blame for Famine
• Reality:
– Food is always available
• to those who can afford it
– Starvation hits the poorest
– Human institutions, policies
• determine who will eat
during hard times
– Millions live near disaster
Famine in Ethiopia
http://www.wfp.org/newsroom/img/indepth/0505_poss-famine-insurance.jpg
• Deprived of land
• Debt
• Low pay
– Society values economic
efficiency over compassion
Myth 3
Too Many People
• Reality:
– World is undergoing
demographic transition
• Birth rates dropping due to
decline in death rates
– No direct correlation between
population and hunger
• Hunger in Nigeria
– Sparsely populated
• Wealth in Netherlands
– Densely populated
– Population growth due to
poverty and inequity
• People’s lives must improve
before birth rates drop
http://www.bvallc.com/pensionblog/uploaded_images/Crowd-702052.jpg
Myth 4
The Environment vs. More Food?
• Reality:
– Environmental crisis
• is threatening food
production
– Efforts to feed the hungry
• are not causing the
environmental crisis
– Profits for developed
countries are the problem
Deforestation in Brazil for hardwoods
http://www.realestatetwincities.net/wpcontent/uploads/2007/10/istock_000003249271devastation480x319.jpg
• Deforestation
• Pesticides
Myth 5
The Green Revolution is the Answer
• Reality:
– Green Revolution:
• Huge production advances
with improved seeds
– But economic power
• Still concentrated in hands of
a few
• Poor cannot afford to buy
grain
– Hunger persists while grain
exports have increased
“Father” of the Green Revolution
http://www.nbipsr.org/images/normbor.jpg
• India
• Mexico
• Philippines
Myth 6
We Need Large Farms
• Reality:
– Large landowners control best
land
• Often leave much of it idle
• Often inefficiently farmed by
tenet farmers
– No incentive
– Small farmers
• 4-5 X output/acre
• Work more intensively
– Land Reform
Bolivian Farmer
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/images/wsci_01_img0012.jpg
• Distributes land to small
farmers
• Successful in raising yields
Myth 7
The Free Market Can End Hunger
• Reality:
– Market is efficient in
distributing food
• If you can buy it
– To end world hunger via the
market
• Must have widely dispersed
purchasing power
– Is a role for government to
help disperse purchasing
power to the poor
Kenya Market
http://bp0.blogger.com/_D16GLAdKeZI/RfsmAWyhTI/AAAAAAAAAQI/TmliZn1dSmA/s400/Market.jpg
• Through taxes, credits, land
reforms
Myth 8
Free Trade is the Answer
• Reality
– In poorest countries
• Exports boomed, hunger
worsened
– Brazilian soybeans
• Feed cattle in Europe and
Japan
• Brazilian hunger grows
– NAFTA: “race for the
bottom”
Soybean Harvest in Brazil
• Working people pitted
against one another
– 1 million jobs lost in U.S.
– 1.3 million jobs lost in
Mexico
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/05/business/soy600.jpg
Myth 9
Too Hungry to Fight for Their Rights
• Reality
– People do fight for their rights
• Mexico
• South Africa
– People will feed themselves if
allowed to
– We need only remove the
obstacles we have placed in
their way
Zapatistas in Mexico
http://angrywhitekid.blogs.com/weblog/images/ezln_campaign.jpg
• Large corporations
• U.S. Government policies
• World Bank and IMF
Myth 10
More U.S. Aid Will Help the Hungry
• Reality:
– Most U.S. Aid works directly
against the hungry
• Aid used to
– Impose free trade
– Promote exports
– Provide arms
– Emergency humanitarian Aid
http://www.bread.org/assets/images/learn/food-aid.jpg
• Only 8% of total
• Undercuts grain production
in receiving country
• Benefits U.S. Grain
companies
• Little reaches the poor
– Best Aid: relieve Debt burden
Myth 11
We Benefit from Their Poverty
• Reality:
– Continued world
poverty and hunger
• is a threat to
American
– Jobs, wages
– Working conditions
– Helping free others
from oppression
Sweat Shop in India
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/clipart/jpeg/IndiaLarge/sweatshop_mumbai.jpeg
• Helps free us too
Myth 12
Curtail Freedom to End Hunger?
• Reality:
– Civil liberties
• Not threatened by ending hunger
– Economic security for all
• Guarantees liberty
• Consistent with our nation’s
founding vision
• Important for ending hunger
– Right to unlimited accumulation
of wealth?
• Not compatible with ending hunger
• Contributes to inequity
http://k43.pbase.com/u36/jwalk/large/23732152.mansion.jpg
– Unjust