Annotated Bibliography for Africas Hunger - Essay Example

English 105 March Annotated Bibliography for Africa’s Hunger Topic: Africa’s Hunger Thesis: Africa is an agriculturally productive continent, but lacks ways of managing its food production, and has poor farming practices and, therefore, the yields are minimal.Although Africa experiences hunger, literatures have described poor farming practices, poverty, unfair trade markets, lack of proper measures by governments to introduce and implement food security projects among others (Lavy 132). The effects of hunger are devastating with much being felt by children and elderly.

Hunger has led to conflict between human beings and animals as they venture in to forests for search of arable lands (Karapinar 58). This has worsened the situation as people destroy forests, which acts as water catchment areas. However, due to its failure to offer food security to its people, many people think that Africa unproductive, but it is an agriculturally productive continent, but lacks ways of managing its food production, and has poor farming practices and, therefore, the yields are minimal.

"13 Million People threatened by Food Crisis in Africa" Telegraph.co.uk. 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Mar.2012.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/9133915/13- million-people-threatened-by- food-crisis-in-Africa.html.This newspaper article highlights issues pertaining to the food crisis in Africa and its effect on the people of Africa. HIV/AIDS has resulted in deaths in the past years since it was discovered in Africa. This has affected the workforce. More people die and others become sick and cannot work anymore.

This has made it impossible for some African countries because they lack personnel to work in industries for production of food. For this reason, the rate of poverty still goes high as people do not earn an income. HIV/AIDS has resulted further to deaths resulting in desperation amongst some Africans to the extent that they are discouraged to work and produce food. In the end, they die of hunger. The contents of this newspaper article give information on how this situation has become life threatening in Africa.

Hunger in Africa: Hearing before the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session, March 1, 1984. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1984. Print.This book was written following a hearing that had been held in 1984, on the basis of African affairs; inclusive of the hunger problem that had started to become a problem in the continent. They spoke of the unfair trade markets and how it affected the people’s trading of goods across continents.

Unfair trade markets has also contributed to hunger in one way or another, the exportation of food crops has become very lucrative in Africa, but the problem arises because the crops being exported are being underpaid and the freight charges are high. This still hinders the growth of GDP. It contributes to hunger as it increases the rate of hunger in the population due to poverty.Pantaleo, C. and S. Jaspars. Cash Transfer Programming in Emergencies, Oxfam Skills and Practice series, Oxford: Oxfam. (2005). Print. C. Pantaleo has written this book on how the aids are distributed and how effectively that should be done.

He speaks of Africa’s dependency on some of his funding. Dependence on donor funding has made more people in Africa not work for their food. They do not look for sustainable measures to end poverty and food insecurity in their regions. The wait for donor funding and food aids from the various donors for their survival. He mentions that this is what is pulling down Africa in terms of being funded throughout and not working on sustainable means of survival.Karapinar, Baris and Christian Haberli.

Food Crises and the WTO: World Trade Forum. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.B. Karapinar wrote a book that capitalized on issues to do with the food crises in Africa. He mentioned the dire effects of the hunger in the continent. He gave a brief explanation on what this crisis entails and its relations with the WTO. The results of hunger in some of these regions are death due to starvation, malnutrition in children and adults due to lack of nutritious foods; there is a loss of population that is brought about by the deaths that occur due to hunger, the economy is crippled even more because of poverty.

Hunger also makes people to migrate a lot as they evade the death due to hunger. There is loss of biodiversity and habitat disturbance that come about due to cutting down of trees by people to grow food crops. The latter also brings about human wildlife conflict as a result of deforestation too. People end up encroaching forested areas as they search for fertile lands to grow their foods. Child mortality due to hunger also increases. Diseases caused by hunger have become rampant due to the condition; for example, children get malnourished and eventually die.

For example, in East Africa, Kenya, there have been instances when people died of hunger in Turkana.Lavy, Victor. "Alleviating Transitory Food Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa: International Altruism and Trade."The World Bank Economic Review 6.1 (1992): 125-38. Print.V. Lavy’s journal article mainly spoke of the mitigation measures to be undertaken, especially by the sub Saharan countries in relation to the food crises that had hit the region hard. He mentioned that situation was transitory and had to be stopped.

The mitigation measures that should be taken into consideration include improving humanitarian responses by ensuring quicker assistances are offered to the African countries in times of food crises. The governments should put up measures or structures that will help curb food crises. There should be long term schemes that will ensure that the issue of food insecurity comes to an end for good. The root causes of hunger should all be tackled in time. That way the food crises would be contained in any African country.Rice, Xan. "Hunger Pains: Famine in the Horn of Africa.

" The Guardian. Guardian News andMedia, 08 Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. X. Rice’s website puts more emphasis on the famine that hit the East African region. He mentions the results of the hunger and what measures are to be undertaken in order to curb the situation in East Africa. It was hard felt in Turkana, in North Eastern Kenya, and Somali. He mentioned that the agricultural techniques were a major contributor to the poor yield the farmers in the region received. The agricultural practices are poor and, therefore, the yields are minimal; this does not support the growing population in East Africa.

The fact that the equipment is a bit outdated reduced the amount of food being grown. The large scale farmers produced poor yield. The crops were destroyed during harvesting due to poor harvesting methods and a lot more food is destroyed in storage as they were affected by pests and diseases.Sahn, David E. Economic Reform and the Poor in Africa. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996. Print. D. Sahn emphasizes that poverty is the resultant factor for the food crises in Africa. Poverty is the inability to acquire the basic needs in life: food, clothes, shelter, and money.

It has contributed a lot in food insecurity. Poverty is a result of lack of employment for some people. They lack money to buy food and the other basic needs. Poverty has caused a lot of hunger in many African countries. Watson, R. Hunger in Africa: The Human Dimensions. Monrovia, CA. World Vision International, 2004. Print.R. Watson talks about the human factors that have contributed to the hunger that has hit Africa over the years, he mentions that it has been caused by issues that pertains the climate changes, poverty, poor agricultural practices, conflicts, unfair trades, HIV/AIDS related problems, lack of water and overdependence to donor funding.

SummaryThis paper has discussed various articulating issues related to hunger in Africa, the underlying principle being assessing various ways of ensuring food security in Africa. Nevertheless, as discussed earlier, it is evident that Africa is an agriculturally productive continent, but lacks ways of managing its food production. It is also apparent that failure by the relevant stakeholders to control food prices has worsened the situation, with the poor being subjected to languishing in hunger.

Poverty has also been cited as a major contributor of hunger in Africa. The continent has poor farming practices and, therefore, the yields are minimal; and this does not support the growing population in continent. However, there is need for mitigation short-term measures which should include improving humanitarian responses by ensuring quicker assistances are offered to the African countries in times of food crises. On the other hand, there should be long term schemes that will ensure that the issue of food insecurity comes to an end for good.

Source EvaluationKarapinar, Baris and Christian Haberli. Food Crises and the WTO: World Trade Forum. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.Hunger has been a threat to many lives especially from Africa. The literature of this book clearly stipulates on the major causes and effects of hunger in Africa. Although many people would view the issue of hunger from a narrow mirage, Karapinar and Christian broadened their spectrum by detailing root causes of hunger, and highlighting appropriate policies to curb the menace (25).

This emphasis in the introduction of the Karapinar and Christian literature captures reader’s attention, which makes it one of the best books to use in assessing hunger situation in Africa. Karapinar and Christian also noted that in the poor countries, many farmers consume all of their staple food output. Perhaps, lack of entrepreneurship strategies in this region especially by these farmers accelerates the level of poverty. Uncontrolled food prices posses a great threat to low income earners, who at one time have plenty of it, but fail to utilize it and sell it as form of business.

If this assertion by Karapinar and Christian is critically reviewed, then it can be argued that Africa is not a poor country, what lack are principles and policies regarding food management. Karapinar and Christian recommended that measures are needed to ensure that individuals- and particularly the poor- have access to food they require even during economic crises and during periods of high food prices (37). It is also necessary to have the agricultural economists to broaden agricultural research and development in order to secure long-term food security (37).

With such embodiment from Karapinar and Christian, this book exonerates the issue of hunger in a comprehensive manner. Works Cited"13 Million People threatened by Food Crisis in Africa" Telegraph.co.uk. 9 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Mar, 2012 Hunger in Africa: Hearing before the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session, March 1, 1984. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1984. Pantaleo, C. and S. Jaspars. Cash Transfer Programming in Emergencies, Oxfam Skills and Practice series, Oxford: Oxfam. (2005). Print.

Karapinar, Baris and Christian Haberli. Food Crises and the WTO: World Trade Forum. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.Lavy, Victor. "Alleviating Transitory Food Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa: International Altruism and Trade."The World Bank Economic Review 6.1 (1992): 125-38. Print.Rice, Xan. "Hunger Pains: Famine in the Horn of Africa." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 08 Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. Sahn, David E. Economic Reform and the Poor in Africa. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996. Print. Watson, R.

Hunger in Africa: The Human Dimensions. Monrovia, CA. World Vision International, 2004. Print.