The Problem of the World’s Food Supplies
By: H. Barnard
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1.
In spite of the greatly increased rate of scientific advance and industrial
development in the last 100 years, millions of people are hungry and unable to
improve their conditions without help. At first sight the problem appears to be one of
scarcity, especially in countries like India and in many parts of Africa. Apparently
there is not sufficient food to support the population.
2.
But if we investigate the situation more closely, we find that this is not true. It
has been calculated that in New York alone, enough food is thrown away every day to
supply the whole population of Calcutta. The richer countries of the world enjoy a
much higher standard of living than their poorer neighbors do. They probably
consume much more than they need, more than their health requires. Scientists also
tell us that by mechanizing agriculture and by using improved agricultural techniques
which are already successfully practiced in many countries, the world can support its
present population quite comfortably and can even support an increased population.
The food problem, therefore, is not mainly a problem of scarcity, although local
scarcity exists. It is basically a problem of distribution and organization.
3.
The world’s supply of food is not evenly distributed. Contrasts between poverty
and plenty are obvious. In certain countries, for example England, New Zealand,
Australia, America, Denmark and Russia, nearly everyone has sufficient food – two
good meals a day at least – but in other countries such as India and Egypt, a large
proportion of the population are underfed. In these countries, too, a few people have
plenty of food while the others go hungry. If the highly industrialized nations decided
to limit their own consumption of bread and rice and share the surplus among the
poorer countries, this would probably have a considerable effect on the standard of
living in Asia and Africa.
4.
Other kinds of help can also be given that would benefit the poorer countries to
an almost equal degree. In India the soil has been poor because Indian villagers make
their fires with wood from the forests and materials such as cow dung which should
enrich the land. But a device has been invented for boiling water and cooking food by
the use of solar energy. This solar cooking apparatus, which is quite simple, costs
about ten dollars to produce, but the average Indian villager cannot afford this. A rich
country – or a group of rich countries could easily afford to supply 50 million Indians
with this equipment; produced on a large scale it would probably cost much less than
500 million dollars, which is only a small fraction of the amount England and
America now spend on military equipment and space research. America, for example,
spends more than this on the war in Vietnam in seven days. Indirectly the wide use of
this cooking apparatus would greatly increase India’s production of grain. Another
form of practical help is to provide improved seeds which will produce better crops.
World’s Food Supplies / 2
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5.
The second problem is the problem of organization within the poorer countries.
Though scientific methods and techniques for increasing agricultural production are
known and practiced in a few regions, they are not generally known or widely
applied. In the poorer countries most people continue to use primitive techniques
which were probably quite effective at one time but will not serve to support the
population at its present rate of increase. The fields are small and the villagers do not
possess modern implements or machinery.
6.
To help these small farmers, governments should make loans which can be used
to finance agricultural cooperatives such as those which already exist in New Zealand
and elsewhere. These cooperatives can then lend special equipment to the farmers
who belong to them. Farmers also need training in the use of efficient methods, such
as those practiced in Japan and other countries, where the results of research have
been applied to the fields. They need to learn, for example, how to alternate their
crops so that the land can carry a suitable crop during every season of the year. They
need to learn how to store their grain so that it is not eaten by rats or wasted in other
ways. Government engineers should discover and operate the most efficient system
for increasing the supply of water to the farms. A lot of research has been carried out
and has produced results, but not enough is done to make these results available to the
average farmer.
7.
If governments introduce these policies and put them into practice, farmers can
not only grow more but also earn more by producing a surplus which can be sold to
industrial workers in the towns, and the result will be a general rise in the standard of
living. The sufferings of the poor are not a fact of nature that has to be accepted, like
the movement of a planet. They are the effect of special circumstances, and these
circumstances can be changed by united effort and intelligent planning.
World’s Food Supplies / 3
Exercise I – Vocabulary
A. Note the words listed below. Each of these words is placed under the right category
of parts of speech. Supply the other parts of speech derived from the same root, if they
exist, and translate the whole family of words into Hebrew.
Verb
Noun
Adjective
Adverb
1.
scarcity
2.
apparently
3.
(to) investigate
4.
(to) calculate
5.
(to) consume
6.
(to) require
7.
distribution
8.
sufficient
9.
research
10.
(to) apply
11.
implements
12.
(to) finance
13.
efficient
14.
(to) alternate
15.
effect
16.
organization
17.
industrial
18.
planning
19.
suitable
20.
movement
Exercise II – Language
A. Before every sentence or group of sentences a number of words is given.
B. Fill in the blank spaces in the sentences that follow with the appropriate words
chosen from these lists.
1.
scarce, scarcely, scarcity
a. Although food may be _____________________ in some parts of the world,
the problem is, basically, not one of _____________________.
b. Some countries can _____________________ produce the food they need.
2.
(to) suffice, sufficient(ly), sufficiency
a. The food supplies available in the poorer countries do not _______________
to feed their populations.
b. The agricultural techniques used in the underdeveloped countries are not
_____________________ advanced.
3.
(to) investigate, investigation, investigator.
a. Any careful _____________________ of the food problem will show that it
is mainly a question of organization and distribution.
World’s Food Supplies / 4
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
(to) consume, consumer, consumption
a. If we could only limit food _____________________ in the richer countries,
surely we could do a lot to raise the standard of living in the poorer ones.
b. It is quite obvious that people living in the highly industrialized West
_____________________ more food than they require.
(to) distribute(d), distribution
a. If the available food supplies were more evenly _____________________,
we could save millions of starving people.
b. A more reasonable _____________________ of the available food supplies
might go a long way towards solving the problem of starvation.
(to) equip, equipment, equipped
a. The poorer countries need modern agricultural _____________________ if
they are to solve their problems.
b. The highly industrialized West should make an effort __________________
the under-developed countries with modern agricultural machinery.
c. At the present moment the developing countries are ill-_________________
to tackle their economic problems.
(to) industrialize, industrialized, industrialization
a. The poorer countries should make every effort _____________________.
b. The _____________________ West must help the poorer countries solve
their economic problems.
c. The _____________________ of the poorer countries will require huge
investments of capital.
(to) finance, financial
a. The poorer countries simply do not have the capital they need
_____________________ their development projects.
b. The highly developed West could provide the _____________________
resources required for the development of the backward countries.
(to) produce, production, producer, productive
a. Once the individual _____________________ starts growing more food than
he can personally consume, the food problem has been partly solved.
b. The only way to increase food _____________________ is by introducing
more _____________________ methods of agriculture; once this has been
done the under-developed countries will be able _____________________
the food they need.
(to) mechanize, mechanization, mechanized
a. Serious efforts are being made by the under-developed countries
_____________________ their agriculture.
b. Most people realize that _____________________ agriculture can produce
much more than a primitive one, but the capital required for its
_____________________ is simply not available.
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Exercise III – Active and passive adjectives
Note the following sentence:
The developed countries should make every effort to help the developing ones.
Both the words developed and developing serve as adjectives. The difference is that
developed (past participle of the verb to develop) serves as a passive adjective,
whereas developing (present participle of the same verb) serves as an active adjective.
Now fill in the blank spaces in the sentences below with the appropriate adjectives
derived from the verb appearing in brackets at the end of each sentence.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
An ever _____________________ number of people is beginning to take an
interest in archaeology. (increase)
The highly _____________________ West should help the poorer countries.
(industrialize)
_____________________ agriculture may solve the problems of food scarcity.
(to mechanize)
Have you ever tried swimming in _____________________ water? I am sure it
must be rather difficult. (to boil)
Since this place is not very clean, I would drink only _____________________
water. (to boil)
Most _____________________ teachers know that they must not take anything
for granted. (to experience)
The Ministry of Education has set up a _____________________ team to
suggest new methods of language teaching. (to plan)
Gamblers will usually take a _____________________ risk. (to calculate)
The _____________________ footballer was rushed to hospital. (to injure)
Stop pretending! Your _____________________ eyes have given you away. (to
smile)
I could tell by their _____________________ faces that the story was quite
_____________________. (to amuse)
The poorer countries need specially _____________________ agricultural
experts. (train)
In some countries the majority of the population is poorly _________________.
(to feed)
The doctor advised me to eat only _________________ food. (to nourish)
My friend is a very _____________________ companion. (to entertain)
Exercise IV
A. Note the following words. B. Fill in the blank spaces in the passage that follows
with one of these words. Be sure to use each only once.
a. apparently
b. requires
c. scarcity
d. consumption
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e. considerable
g. afford
i. applied
f. benefit
h. production
j. implements
At the present moment a _______________ part of the world population are still
undernourished. Superficially, it would seem that the problem is one of
_______________ , but this is only _______________ true. Local difficulties
do exist, but these could be solved by overall planning which would greatly
_______________ the poorer countries. The richer countries could easily
_______________ to reduce their food _______________ without any visible
damage to their people, who in any case eat a lot more than their well-being
requires. Furthermore, if improved agricultural techniques were
_______________, and modern _______________ were supplied, food
_______________ would surely rise.
Exercise V – Structure
What do the following words and phrases refer to?
1. This, line 6, refers to
2. Their, line 10, refers to
3. Which, line 12, refers to
4. its, line 12, refers to
5. it, line 15, refers to
6. their, line 22, refers to
7. this, line 23, refers to
8. that, line 25, refers to
9. which, line 27, refers to
10. this, line 30, refers to
11. this equipment, line 32, refers to
12. which, line 33, refers to
13. his, line 35, refers to
14. they, line 40, refers to
15. which, line 42, refers to
16. these, line 45, refers to
17. they, line 50, refers to
18. it, line 52, refers to
19. These results, line 55, refers to
20. these policies, line 57, refers to
21. which, line 58, refers to
22. they, line 61, refers to
World’s Food Supplies / 7
Exercise VI – Comprehension
Look at the words listed below
1. in spite of
2. although
3. but
4. because
5. since
6. seeing that
7. because of
8. therefore
9. if
10. however
All these words serve as connectors – in fact they establish the logical connection
between the various parts of a complex sentence. Fill in the blank spaces in the
sentences that follow with the appropriate connector chosen from the list of
connectors presented above. Some of them might be interchangeable.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
_____________________ the poorer countries employ primitive methods of
agriculture they cannot provide their populations with the food they need.
One might say that the under-developed countries have remained poor
_____________________ they have not adopted modern methods of farming.
The under-developed countries keep on using primitive methods of agriculture;
_____________________ they face a serious food problem.
_____________________ great progress has been made in the field of food
production, millions of people are still starving.
An enormous number of people are still underfed _____________________ all
the progress made in food production.
Some people claim that the under-developed countries have remained poor
_____________________ their technological backwardness.
_____________________ we could convince the highly-developed West to
waste less food, the food problem could be partly solved.
The under-developed countries are trying to solve their food problem;
_____________________, they must obtain the help of the richer countries.
Local scarcity does exist; _____________________, this could be solved by
better planning and organization.
_____________________ the highly developed West wastes so much food, one
must conclude that the food problem is not really one of scarcity.
Exercise VII
Now fill in the blank spaces in the passage that follows with the appropriate
connectors. Use the same connections as in the previous exercise. Treat the passage as
one logical whole.
_____________________ the fact that we have made enormous scientific
progress, a very large part of the world population, especially in the under-developed
countries, is still underfed. And _____________________ the governments of these
countries are making serious efforts to solve this problem, they are still a long way
from complete success. _____________________, if we study the problem more
World’s Food Supplies / 8
carefully, we soon realize that it is not really a matter of scarcity. Some people even
claim that the poorer countries starve _____________________ the West is so
wasteful, and _____________________ the available food supplies were distributed
more justly, nobody would go hungry. But _____________________ there is no
international authority to undertake such a task, starvation is still a very serious
problem. Naturally, the under-developed countries claim that ___________________
their poverty they will never be able to solve these problems by themselves
_____________________ they would need huge investments of capital which they
simply cannot afford. _____________________ they expect the already developed
West to make a serious effort to help them out. _____________________, as things
stand now, it seems that the rich countries will simply grow richer, whereas the poor
ones will become poorer.