Famines
Sources:
The World Food Problem (2009, Leathers and Foster)
World Hunger 12 Myths (1998, Lappe, Collins, and Rossett)
Irish Potato Famine
• 1845-1849 potato blight
• 1 million died of starvation
– 1.5 million emigrated
• Ireland a colony of England
– Exported wheat and beef to England
– Peasants had small plots of potatoes
• Famine: wheat and beef still
exported
– Peasants did not own the land
– Starved in the midst of plenty
• They did not own
• Europe also had blight but
starvation only in Ireland
http://www.gormanfamilytree.com/images/famine2.jpg
– British policies
British Army enforced food export
during Irish potato famine
http://www.irishholocaust.org/1024-map.gif/1024-map-full.jpg
Great Famine, India 1876-8
• India a British Colony
• British policies:
– Land converted to British plantations
– Exports of crops to Europe
– Taxed India to support British wars
– Price of food rose
• Drought decreased production
• British response:
– Inaction, discouraged famine relief
• Thought to be too expensive
• Thought relief would encourage
shirking of Indian workers
• Result: 5 million starved to death
http://www.sott.net/signs/images/indian_family.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Famine-in-India
Colonial Economic System
Empire
Conquest
Wealth,
Taxes
Food,
Resources
Colonies
People Most Vulnerable to Famine
• Poor rural people: crop
failure
–
–
–
–
Small scale farmers
Unemployed tenant farmers
Landless agriculture workers
Conquered nations
• Pastoralists
– Drought
– Low animal prices
http://www.sonic.net/~evolve/wp/human_ecology/sudan_famine_7.j
pg
Bangladesh Famine, 1974
• 100,000 died
• Blamed on floods
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/images/migrated/MultimediaFiles/Live/Image/4422.jpg
that destroyed
crops
• Actually never a
shortage of food
• Wealthy farmers
hoarded food
• Poor could not
afford to buy food
Sub-Saharan Africa (Sahel)
• Recurring Famines 70s, 80s
• Blamed on Drought
– But grow enough to feed
everybody
• Exports continued: cotton,
http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/famine.jpg
vegetables, peanuts
• Poor, indebted farmers suffer
most
• Desertification a problem
• Aid supported export crops
Conflicts in Africa
Ethiopia
• Drought 1982-85:
– 300,000 people died
• Drought uneven:
– affected only 30% of land
• Civil War:
– post-colonial problem
• Government spent billions on
military
– incurred huge debt: encouraged cash
crops
• Government farms fed military
http://i.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1987/1101871221_40
0.jpg
– huge army reduced numbers of farm
workers
• 800,000 relocated
Rwanda
• 1990s: Genocide, civil war,
starving refugees
• Country dependent on coffee
exports:
– prices dropped plunging economy
into crisis
• World Bank, IMF “structural
Rwanda refugees
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fel9bt89f5XY/610x.jpg
adjustment”
• doubled number in poverty
• Rebels attacked most fertile
region
• Ethnic tensions left over from
colonialism exploded
– 500,000 killed: Genocide
• Crop production dropped
– economy collapsed
http://www.robrogers.com/cartoons/2005/images/030305%20Hotel%20Rwanda.gif
Sudan
• Rebellion in Darfur starting
2003
– Region size of France
• Farming villages bombed
– by Sudan government
– To fight rebels
• Ethnic cleansing
Refugees in Darfur, Sudan
http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php
– by Pro-Arab militia (Janjaweed)
• kill, rape, burn
– Genocide?
• 2.5 million refugees
– 200,000- 450,000 dead
• Many from starvation
Conflicts and Poverty
http://www.cybertext.net.au/student07_inet__may/otherConferences/Poverty_conflict_map.jpg
Famines are a Social Disaster
• Vulnerability of the poor
– Disasters result in poor losing
land
• Opportunity for the rich?
• Claim to food may be lost
– If too poor to buy food
– Right to food?
• Vulnerability of
agriculture to nature
– Poor conservation due to
economic pressure
Ethiopia 1980
http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/images/nwaz_02_img0201.jpg
• Hunger used as a weapon
Ukraine Famine
• Policy: Soviet Union
established collective
farms in 1930s
• Policy: Quotas set for
farm production
• Policy: Food seized from
farms to make quotas
• 6-8 million Ukrainians
died 1932-1933
http://www.gnosticliberationfront.com/Image14.jpg
Nazi Holocaust
• Targeted Jews in
Europe for annihilation
– Rounded up in cities
– All possessions taken
– Sent to work/death
camps
• Starvation a matter of
policy
• 6 Million Jews killed
Great Leap Forward Famine
1959-1961
• Policy & Ideology: China
reorganized farms into
large communes
– Huge production predicted
• Policy: Food exports
increased in 1959
– Based on predictions
• Poor weather resulted in
Propaganda Poster
http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/ChinaLinks-New/Images-ChinaLinks1-07/glf.jpg
low production
• 30 million people died
Great Leap Forward Famine
Government
Totalitarian
Economy
Collective Farms
Ideology
Communism
North Korean Famine
• 1990s – 500,000 - 3Million
died of starvation
http://www.nkfreedom.org/fileadmin/Image_Archive/Photo_2girls.jpg
– N. Korea doesn’t grow enough
food for it’s population
– Food rationed by government
– Priority to military and party
loyalists
– With collapse of Soviet Union,
grain aid reduced in 1990s
– Industrial base too weak to afford
grain imports
– Military:
• 1.2 million soldiers
• ¼ N. Korean budget
Disaster Relief Needs
• Better governance:
– democracy
• Early warning
– rapid response
• Increase food availability
– Discourage hoarding
– Domestic production
• Distribution to needy
– Food or cash
• Stabilization of food
Liberia refugee children
http://www.americanphotojournalist.com/News/145-8.jpg
prices