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Brett W. Hutchison
Mr. Jackson
English Language Arts/ Social Studies
30 April 2013
Hunger In Africa
In Africa, in a 30-year span, the population rose from 335 million people to 751
million people, and is rising by 15 million each year (Plaut, “Africa`s Hunger). Africa has
some of the poorest countries in the entire world, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Congo, and
so many other countries. One of the main problems is overpopulation. Some countries,
like the United States, don`t really have to worry about this, but in some places in
Africa, most people have a house with only one or two rooms. You see, you and I
usually eat a lot of food for lunch and dinner, but in Africa, some people can barely
put food on the table for their families. A major factor in growing food and other
needed crops everywhere in the world is agriculture. In Africa, 75% of farming lands
have been depleted with unfertile soil, but was only 45% just a decade ago (Dugger,
"Overfarming African Land Is Worsening Hunger Crisis"). It may seem not too bad, but
over 500 million people in Africa depend on farming for money, jobs, and of course
food (Dugger, "Overfarming African Land Is Worsening Hunger Crisis"). According to a
source, this has left over 200 million Africans without proper food (Plaut, “Africa`s
Hunger). There are even some countries who won`t help these farmlands to become
more fertile. The African Hunger Crisis is starting to get worse, and we need to provide
help. For this crisis to help those who are suffering, a well built road will have to be
built so countries can send crops to markets and other countries. Money would also have
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to be given to farmers as a credit. Farmers would also have to learn new methods of
farming. And cheaper fertilizers would have to be sold so farmers can keeps their crops
healthy. Also, clean water would have to be used to keep the crops from drying out or
at the worst, not grow.
During 1990, about 4 million children died because they were either fed improper
food or not fed at all (Danaher and Riak, "Myths of African Hunger"). This is proof for
everyone that Africans aren`t getting the proper food and nutrition that they need to live
a healthy life. One of the main causes was investments in Africa`s farmlands. Poor
investments destroyed African soil and, in the process, they also cleared out plants and
bushes that, when they died, they renewed the soil. This caused some African land to
become desert and or semidesert like environments. An effort called the Green
Revolution is an option in saving African farmlands. It has appeared successful in the
past. In a 20-year span, the average food a person gets rose by 11% and lifted 150
million people from going hungry (Patel, Holt-Gimenez, and Shattuck, "Ending Africa's
Hunger"). Even with twice as many people in Africa than there are in the U.S., we still
use more resources than Africans do. They use under 5% of the available resources in
the world, but the U.S. uses nearly a quarter. If we sent about half of our resources to
African countries, they might use them to power cars and planes to send their resources
to other countries, build ships to send them overseas, power homes, and most of all,
save African farmland soil.
The food crisis in Africa isn`t just affecting how much food Africans are getting.
It`s also affecting their health. About 17% of the world`s population are unable to
receive the average 2,000 calories a day (Patel, Holt-Gimenez, and Shattuck, "Ending
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Africa's Hunger"). . Most of these people are in Asia and Africa and work on farmlands
(Patel, Holt-Gimenez, and Shattuck, "Ending Africa's Hunger"). Many people are attempting
to raise money for the poor in Africa. A foundation created by Bill Gates has raised
over $30 billion dollars to help Africans struggling with food (Patel, Holt-Gimenez, and
Shattuck, "Ending Africa's Hunger").
While the cause of African hunger may seem like the faults of African farmers,
it`s not entirely their fault. The food they do grow, when sold, is put on a high price at
markets. High food pricing has sent nearly a billion people into hunger, more people
than the US, Canadian, and European Union populations put together, a UN report says
("Africa” "Food Colonialism Increasing Hunger Crisis"). Also, you probably like to eat fish
for dinner. Well, the EU has strict fishing rules for companies that catch fish, such as
limiting their catch totals, banning types of fishing methods, and fining companies if
they break these rules. The reason for this is fear of overfishing will cause a decline in
catching totals.
In 2008, in a series of interviews with South Africans about how much food they
can support for their family, they said there were times in the last 12 months where
they couldn`t put enough food on the table to support them and their families (Tortora,
"Hunger Goal Still Out of Reach in South Africa"). South Africa has a better economy than
most south African countries. One year, the average percentage in food shortage in 18
southern-based African countries was nearly 60% (Tortora, "Hunger Goal Still Out of Reach
in South Africa"), though in South Africa it was not relatively high.
After my research and notes, I can now see why people are writing about this
crisis in Africa. They want people to be aware of the current events taking place in this
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part of the world. Most people may not realize that in Africa there are people who fear
they might not make it to live to see the next day. But the people who wrote the
articles that I used as research do. They want people like us to make a difference in the
world.
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Works Cited
"Africa." Food Colonialism Increasing 's Hunger Crisis. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
Danaher, Kevin, and Abikok Riak. "Myths of African Hunger." World History Archives. Institute
for Food & Development Policy, Spring 1996. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
Dugger, Celia W. "Overfarming African Land Is Worsening Hunger Crisis." Newyorktimes.com.
The New York Times, 31 Mar. 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
Patel, Raj, Eric Holt-Gimenez, and Annie Shattuck. "Ending Africa's Hunger." The Nation. N.p.,
2 Sept. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
Plaut, Martin. "Africa's Hunger." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
Tortora, Bob. "Hunger Goal Still Out of Reach in South Africa." Gallup.Com - Daily News,
Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. N.p., 23 June
2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.
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