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Have you ever starved? I once fasted for 30 hours, and I felt like I was going to starve to

death. But, have you ever truly starved? I do not mean the empty, gurgling feeling you

experience in your stomach when the waiter takes too long to bring your food. I mean true

starvation. I mean not knowing when you will eat your next meal. In truth, I do not think you can

ever comprehend the reality of starvation with Wal-mart and McDonald¶s sitting right around the

corner. Even while I fasted, I could still look forward to stuffing my face with a piping hot dinner

at the end of the day. Unfortunately, millions of people around the world have nothing with

which to look forward. In many sub-Sahara African countries like Zambia, more than half of the

population lives on less than two dollars a day (USAID). What can you buy with two dollars?

The feeling of true starvation.

Food, or lack thereof, directly affects every aspect in a society, including energy and

productivity. As sources of energy, food and nutrition provide power for each individual. A

healthy economy depends on the physical welfare of its citizens. If a country maintains stable

agriculture and personal well-being, that country can sustain a higher level of work output.

Unfortunately, not every country is capable of doing so. A stark difference exists between those

who live in the rich world (where GDP per capita exceeds $2000) and those who live in

developing countries (where GDP per capita lies below $2000). One can witness that developed

countries are more well-fed while underdeveloped countries suffer from food scarcity. In

examining how unequal food distribution contributes to wealth and poverty, some other

important factors must also be addressed. Those factors include some historical and social

causality, impact of food trends, methods of crop production, waste and loss, and usage of

biomass. A proposed solution will also be incorporated.

O

  
   

 

  

Food exists in abundance in our immediate community. Since the Industrial Revolution,

people in the rich world face few problems with food availability. Our society has moved away

from consuming ancient staples of rice, beans, and carbohydrates towards a protein-rich and

sugar-infused diet. The new diet has even resulted in "substantial increases in average [human]

height and weight, and reoriented the rich world's agricultures from food crop to animal feed

crop production" (Smil 156). Incidentally, the change in taste also triggered the unexpected

consequence of unequal global food distribution, leaving masses in underdeveloped areas

starving and sick. In order to reduce poverty levels, international communities must rally

together to combat malnutrition by adopting policies to regulate food distribution. We must stop

hogging and start sharing to ensure that all seven billion stomachs will be fed.





 




 
 


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states, "Eighty percent of all corn grown in

the U.S. is consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production." Since

the demand for food crops has diminished significantly in the last century, American farmers

mainly focus on producing crops to feed livestock and to sell to food-processing companies. An

"animal feed crop" market is considered more valuable and profitable due to the increase in meat

demand. However, dangers associated with the transition from traditional to modern diets

include exhaustion of livestock grazing resources and decrease in overall crop production. The

worldwide population growth also causes strain on food production and distribution to

developing nations especially when only a small percentage of crops produced passes directly

into the consumer's hands and mouths.

 In the Western world, food availability actually dramatically increased over the last one

hundred years. Improved standards of living in the U.S. due to the birth of new technologies

greatly increased food demand and individual¶s income (Letellier). To meet the increase in

consumption, for example, the amount of total grain per capita in the U.S. grew 55 pounds

between 1970 and 2005 (Wells 6). Americans could finally afford to purchase a variety of

different foods, consuming more refined grains, fats, meats, and even foreign imported foods to

satisfy their taste buds. All the while, our consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as whole

grains decreased. The excessive daily intakes of certain food groups and collective sedentary

lifestyles led to a plethora of preventable health complications related to obesity. Over one-third

of adults in the U.S. are considered obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, Mississippi had an obesity prevalence rate of 34.4% among their population, making

it the fattest state in America.


 


Americans also have food up to their ears. Despite concerns over inflated food prices,

Americans toss on average one pound of food per person every day. In a 1997 data collection,

the Economic Research Service estimated that ³96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of

edible food in the U.S. was never eaten.´ Farms, grocery stores, restaurants, and individual

households throw out perfectly edible foods which rot in landfills and emit methane, a

contributor to global warming, into the air. Thankfully, some organizations such as ³Foodchain´

and ³Second Harvest´ have taken the initiative to recover and obtain surplus food to redistribute

to food banks. Five percent of recovered food can feed four million people a day, while 25% can
feed 20 million people (USDA). Food recovery efforts must be supported amidst the current

global food crisis.


 

!

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In contrast to the rich world¶s abundance, more than one billion people around the world

still go to bed hungry every night due to inadequate food distribution and a surplus of other

problems. Many people living in developing countries starve because they cannot afford to buy

food. When the majority of household income, 75%, is spent on food, the recent 43% hike in

food prices has created even more malnutrition-related problems on poverty stricken people

(USAID). "Several factors contributed to the rapid spike in global food prices, including

increased consumer demand for food, oil, and energy supplies among emerging markets such as

China and India, leading to rising energy costs.´

Another significant factor blamed for causing mounting food prices is the increased usage

and production of biomass. Recent development on the usage of alternative fuels, such as ethanol,

to replace petroleum has gained momentum and popularity in the U.S. Ethanol production

involves fermenting and distilling starch crops such as corn into an alcohol-based fuel (Fuel

Economy). For Americans, some benefits of driving ethanol-fueled vehicles include lower

carbon dioxide emissions and independence from foreign oil. However, corn ethanol has long

been the suspected culprit of the recent food price hikes, which extensively affects other

developing nations. The Congressional Budget Office states:

The increased use of ethanol accounted for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the

rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008« Rising demand for corn

also increased the demand for cropland and the price of animal feed. Those effects
 in turn raised the price of many farm commodities (such as soybeans, meat,

poultry, and dairy products) and, consequently, the retail price of food (8).

When parents cannot afford to feed their children due to the problem of high food costs,

children suffer the most risk for developmental problems and even premature death. We must not

neglect the ethics of ethanol usage since its exploitation can lead to dire consequences in the

future.






Maybe we wonder about how starving children from Zambia affects us. Why do we even

care? To start off, kids are less likely or unable to attend school when they are too hungry and

weak. Yet, education is the key to future food security. A farmer with only four years of

elementary education is 9% more productive than if he had none. If kids do not receive the

necessary education they need to be productive members of society, the cycle of poverty

continues. Hunger does not only affect one individual or country, it also affects the rest us. Each

year, hunger costs the world $20 to $30 billion in economic development (World Food Program).

We might not witness such troublesome circumstances in our immediate surroundings, but

hunger exists as a ravaging cancer in our world.








In order to cure and eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, a series of vital treatment

steps need to be implemented. One way the United Nations Commission on Sustainable

Development aids in slashing famines and crop loss is to establish technology and secure

agriculture infrastructures where there are prevalent ³insect infestation, microbial growth,
damage and high temperatures and humidity´ conditions. In establishing stable food source,

hungry adults can maintain productivity at work, while children can learn effectively in school.

The United States Agency for International Development spearheads the movement,

³Feed the Future´, which strives to increase food security through a collaboration between U.S.

and poverty-vulnerable countries. For example, USAID works with sub-Saharan African

countries like Zambia, where 80% of the rural populations live below the poverty line, and their

humanitarian organizations, governmental authorities, and local communities to increase

agricultural productivity and humanitarian food assistance amongst rural farming communities.

Agriculture productivity can be achieved through improved technologies and management

practices, while short-term food assistance offers a protective buffer for long-term changes that

include proper land-irrigation and higher income per capita. Other steps such as increasing

accessible market and trade opportunities for crops, preventing and treating childhood

malnutrition, and installing natural disaster relief systems create paths to a more food-secure

future.

Despite efforts to improve income and food security, many challenges still face the

poverty stricken. With the current U.S. economy still heading towards a downward spiral, how

can we focus on improving other economies? Some may even wonder, ³What¶s the point to

eliminating poverty? It will always exist.´ Therefore, we cannot simply rely on the government

and other humanitarian organizations to fix the problem. Children and adults suffering from

chronic poverty are relying on individuals like you and me to help relieve their hunger pains.

One major way we can balance out inequality is to indulge in more locally produced foods to

lower the costs associated with food transport. If we do not have to allocate foods from other

places, then that community can use their own food to feed their own people. If we eat our own
portion of food and do not take other people¶s food supply, then no one will experience true

starvation.

Finding the perfect solution to an issue as complex as food security can be challenging at

best and discouraging at worst. Every component of life can be affected by poverty, but those

components can also be utilized to reduce poverty. Nations, communities, and individuals all

have the ability to feed a hungry world by making the right choices. The transformation of

traditional food trends impacts our world in a wide array of areas ranging from personal health to

global environment. We typically do not think much about any implications that might come

from our food consumption. Nonetheless, our eating habits do matter, both to our bodies and to

our neighbors around the world. We can either encourage continuous gluttony or take action to

prevent the exploitation of the earth's resources by allocating our food sources efficiently and

practicing self-sustainability. In doing both the latter, we benefit ourselves as well as the

forthcoming generations.

|
 
" 


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Web. 3 May 2011. <http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10057/04-08-Ethanol.pdf>.

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19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/FoodReview/Jan1997/Jan97a.pdf>.

"Ethanol." 
  . U.S. Department of Energy. Web. 03 May 2011.

<http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/ethanol.shtml>.

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<http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/agriculture/pdfs/2010/FTF_2010_Implementation_Plan

_Zambia.pdf>.

Letellier, Travis. ³Chapter 9: Long-run Economic Growth.´ Lecture. Introduction to

Macroeconomics. Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. Feb. 2011.

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<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekinreview/18martin.html?pagewanted=1>.

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