The Causes and Effects of Famine in Developing Countries - Coursework Example

Causes and Effects of Famine in Developing Countries Thesis ment The following essay tries to explore the reasons of famine which has deva d humanity on numerous occasions in the history of mankind. Not only humans but all sorts of life on this planet, maybe plant or animal, needs food and water as the primary requirements in order to sustain life. The natural ecology is such that it provides opportunities as well as obstacles to all living beings in their search for food. Survival of the fittest is a belief held in much esteem by both the literary and the scientific world. Mother Nature is a benefactor as well as devastator of life on this planet. It provides equal opportunities to all to live their lives to the fullest extent, but at the same time natural disasters and other vagaries of nature try to snuff out the very same life. In this essay we shall confine ourselves to how famines affect human civilization, what are the reasons of famine and how could we control them. The occurrence of famines in the developing countries of this world and the reasons thereof will be studied with analysis of the current research available on the topic. Introduction Man has harnessed the resources available on Earth to fulfil his basic needs by the use of science and technology. The foremost basic need is that of food and water without which life is impossible. Historically man was a nomadic animal who travelled from place to place in search of palatable food until his ingenuity led him to the practice of growing food which ultimately resulted in the modern practice of agriculture. However primitive agriculture was not sufficient to meet the needs of all mankind. Social peculiarities, cultural influences and the topography of the land masses influenced the practice of agriculture and it was not until the twentieth century that modern and scientific agriculture became a reality. This development was however only in the prosperous and developed countries of the world while the other regions are still struggling to meet their food requirements. Famines or acute shortage of food has therefore occurred with alarming regularity in the underdeveloped and the developing countries of the world. Cox G.W. (1981) defines famine as “the regional failure of food production or distribution systems leading to sharply increased mortality due to starvation and associated diseases.” Food production in most of the world is dependent on the availability of fertile land mostly near the major rivers as water is an integral necessity for good agriculture. Other regions depend on rainfall to meet their irrigation requirements. Most of the ancient civilizations have thus thrived along the major rivers of the world where fertile soil is available. Droughts and dearth of rainfall have contributed in a major manner for crop failures in such regions leading to less production and ultimately paucity of food grains. The population of the region is also an important factor as there has to be production of food crops sufficient for the people living in agrarian societies. Excessive population also leads to dearth of food grains. A successful agrarian society also needs a socio political system where the distribution of agricultural products is efficient and judicious. Lack of such a system can also lead to famine. Starvation caused due to unavailability of food ultimately leads to poor health and lack of immunity which makes the people prone to diseases and subsequent death and destruction. Famines are brought about by not only the lack of resources or fertile land but sometimes are triggered due to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, diseases and changes in weather (Cox, G.W., 1981). Sometimes such disasters are the creation of man such as wars and civil disruption (Cox, G.W., 1981). Whatever the precipitating factor they are a great challenge to humanity. The modern world society is on a constant effort to avert famines with the efforts of civilized countries as well as eminent world organizations such as the UNO (United Nations Organization),WHO (World Health Organization) and the FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization). Discussion The history of mankind has recorded hundreds of instances of famines although the information has not been well documented (Cox, G.W., 1981). Famines have occurred due to drastically different reasons in different parts of the world, but the primary reasons are the vagaries of weather, maybe drought or floods as in some regions of China, India, Central Asia, Africa, South and Central America or diseases of plants and animals such as in Europe and East Africa (Cox, G.W., 1981). In many cases the latest famines as recent as in the twentieth century, the reasons are entirely different as they are attributable to failure of public distribution systems and political demeanour. Whatever the reason famines result in the arrest of social and cultural development of human societies as the people are preoccupied with and are forced to devout their maximum time and energy to obtain food (Scrimshaw, 1987). Human beings being intelligent suffer physically as well as emotionally. The initial scarcity of food followed by disease and death of near and dear ones leave permanent mental scars on the survivors. In fact when a famine sets in it results in a gradual but sure deterioration of human values and personal relationships to the point that emotions like love and affection for close relations are slowly forgotten and the mind becomes obsessed with the craving for food. The world history is marked by famines in all major civilizations of the world irrespective of the present scenario. Howsoever developed a country might be today it cannot deny the existence of famines in its history. Famines have been more common in agrarian societies and urban populations as compared to individual and nomadic tribal dynasties who lived by hunting for food and in small groups such as the Australian Aborigines and the African Bushmen (Scrimshaw, 1987). The historical occurrence of the oldest famines is shown in the following table (Source: Scrimshaw, 1987): Time & Period of Occurrence Region and Population 2000 B.C. Egypt 1850 B.C. to 46 A.D. Palestine 500 B.C. & 500 A.D. Rome 501 to 1500 France 1257-1258 London 1315-1317 Europe 1347 Italy 1438 Paris 1601 Western Russia & Eastern Europe 1727-1778 Normandy 1845-1850 Ireland Afterwards, in the immediate recent centuries, major famines have occurred and are still occurring in Asian as well as African countries. China though having a record of famines in 108 B.C. & 29 A.D. had some of the most devastating famines in the nineteenth century (Scrimshaw, 1987). India has the dubious record of having famines as late as 1943 & 1961 in the south eastern state of West Bengal. Neighbouring country of Bangladesh too suffered famines as late as 1975. Similarly African countries like Ethiopia, Somalia and Congo have suffered famines in recent years. The diversity in the causes of famine is illustrated by comparing famines in Ireland, Ethiopia and India. The Irish famine in 1846-47 was due to the overt dependence on a single crop, that of potato by the Irish peasantry on which they were solely dependent. The whole crop was destroyed by the ‘blight’ disease and the peasantry was forced to sell the other crop produce like wheat, oats and barley in order to pay the rent to their landlords (Scrimshaw, 1987). The Ethiopian famine of 1882-92 resulted due to an epidemic of ‘Rinderpest’ disease or Cattle Plague which destroyed the whole livestock, combined with drought conditions and destruction of the crop by locusts and caterpillars (Scrimshaw, 1987). The famine in the West Bengal province of India in 1943-1944 was attributed to shortage of rice for consumption but was actually due to the inflationary trend in the society which made the peasantry incapable of buying food due to its diversion as procurement by the government to tide over the war. The causes of famine in the present developing world have acquired an entirely new perspective. There are wide social rifts in most of the developing countries where people are separated into social groups based on their rural or urban location, traditional professions and personal assets. Swift (2006) has emphasized on the vulnerability of a certain sections of the society, mostly rural, in the developing and underdeveloped countries to be more prone to famines due to their peculiar status in the society they represent. Their assets are in the form of livestock, cash crops and the animal products which are their usual source of food as compared to their urban counterparts who depend more on cereals and grains. As long as their livestock is productive and delivers their basic necessities, their production and consumption are kept in balance. Any factor causing loss in production such as disease is attributable in causing reduction in consumption with resultant scarcity, which can lead to the traditional explanation of famine. But according to Swift (2006) this is not a simple equation as the fluctuations in exchange rate of their assets in relation to the staple food products of the market and the economic trends sometimes make their assets too low in value for them to exchange such assets to meet their food requirements. Swift argues that these animal to cereal price ratios fluctuate with the health and condition of the animals which originally had a better value than vegetable based products, but fetch such people a lesser exchange rate even when the price of cereals does not increase. This can lead to economic as well as food crisis for the people dependent on such traditional means of livelihood. They are then forced to liquidate the last existing assets they have which further cripples them. The market economy and inflationary trends are thus capable of reducing their buying capability to such an extent that famine is inevitable, despite good production. Such people are thus always prone to famine unless the government provides some subsidies and initiates relief programs for such people from its own resources. Such practices and programs are being used with some success in countries like India. Endeavours to check famine are the top priority of some of the eminent world organizations presently and economists have suggested a wide variety of strategies as the world progresses both in science and technology. The first and the foremost is a will of the developed countries and the humanity in large to establish a cooperation and friendly attitude across nations to share the natural resources responsibly and economically. Conservation of natural resources and prevention of environmental degradation are other areas which are receiving increasing attention. Population control is an important aspect which needs particular attention in the present era. Religious fundamentalism and cultural isolation are some of the detrimental factors which are obstacles in the path of progress. Swift (2006) believes that the vulnerability factor needs to be understood by studying production and exchange failures which ultimately lead to social and economic collapse. The moral responsibility of the governments, wars and civil unrest are other factors which need to be considered as they increase the vulnerability of populations to famines. Exchange interventions need to be put in place that ensures employment as well as price support. Improvement in health and education of the prone populations can assist them in building their assets in a better way. Scrimshaw (1987) believes that prevention of famines is not a simple matter of just increasing food production but establishing an early warning system of susceptible areas with honest admission by the governments of developing countries which usually have a tendency to hide the true picture due to national pride. According to him political factors are the most detrimental in the application of any strategy of providing relief to the affected people. Emergency preparedness, maintenance of adequate reserve food stocks, establishment of production and distribution channels and training of disaster management personnel are some of the measures suggested by Scrimshaw. He suggests that land ownership tenures and patterns need to be changed according to the suitability of a nation’s geographical peculiarities and scientific agriculture needs to be practiced in order to boost production. Adequate changes in agricultural pricing policies and incentive based farming needs to be encouraged in the famine prone countries. Conclusion The world in the present information technology age is at the threshold of rapid technological advancement where most countries are becoming increasingly transparent to as well as dependent on each other. There are adequate food stocks in North America and Europe (Scrimshaw, 1987) which can be rapidly mobilized to tackle food shortage anywhere in the world. The emerging Asian giants like China and India are also contributing to the development of other less privileged countries in Asia and Africa after overcoming their own problems and deficiencies. Distribution networks need to be well established and a political will should be there in the countries prone to famines. Health coverage and education needs to be concurrently developed and delivered in such areas so that diseases are no longer a complicating factor. Economic policies should be designed in such a manner so as to benefit the communities at disadvantage by ensuring more value for their assets. Natural disasters notwithstanding, the human race is in a position where it can make or mar its own destiny. The natural food chain on Earth has yet to be exploited fully which can only be done by initiating constructive research and development. References: Bartholet Jeffrey, (2007), United Nations: A New Way to fight Famine?, Online Article available at: http://www.friendsofwfp.org/atf/cf/%7B90E7E160-957C-41E4-9FAB- 87E2B662894B%7D/03.12.07- UN%20A%20New%20Way%20to%20Fight%20Famine-Newsweek.htm Cox, G.W. (1981) The Ecology of Famine: an overview. In Robson, J.K.(Ed.), (Excerpts), Famine: Its causes, Effects and Management, (pp. 5-18). London: Gordon and breach Science Publishers. Drought and Famine - 1st edition (DHA/UNDRO - UNDP, 1992, 52 p.), Avaialble Online at: http://nzdl.sadl.uleth.ca/cgi-bin/library?e=d-00000-00---off-0fnl2.2--00- 0--0-10-0---0---0prompt-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0-0- 11-1-0utfZz-8- 00&a=d&c=fnl2.2&cl=CL3.13&d=HASH01e0b360fcbd3975ef3aa9cb.7 Mortality during a Famine --- Gode District, Ethiopia, July 2000, Online Article Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5015a2.htm People and Populations at risk, Dimensions of need, Online Article,FAO Corporate Document Repository, Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/U8480E/U8480E05.htm Ravallion Martin, (1997), Famines and Economics, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XXXV,pp. 120-1242 Scrimshaw Nevin S., 1987, The Phenomenon of Famine, Ann. Rev. Nutr. 1987. 7:1-21 Swift Jeremy, 1993, Understanding and Preventing Famine and Famine Mortality, IDS Bulletin Volume 24 Number 4 Swift Jeremy, 2006, Why Are Rural People Vulnerable to Famine?, IDS Bulletin Volume 37 Number 4, Anthology Read More