Globeglance:
We Can Have Enough Food
By Salleh Mohd Nor

“There are countries which frequently suffer natural calamities, and their starvation rate resulting from them is often high; in fact, it is not all because of nature’s wrath but often the result of various human factors.”

Only 3,500 calories of energy are needed by a person to live adequately for a day. Yet, the average consumption in the developed world exceeds 35,000 calories per day. Hunger is not something invited but forced upon by some unfortunate, ruthless man-made activities, economic forces, political upheavals and circumstances beyond the control of the individuals. It is not incorrigible. It can be overcome. We, as a human race, should wage a war against the tyranny of hunger. Much has been written about the issues of global hunger, but the basic issue of concern is, “why has it continued to exist?”

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care.” Yet, almost 53 years after its adoption, millions of people are going to sleep hungry every day. World food production is more than enough to feed everyone on earth; yet hunger still reigns in most parts of the world and remains a constant threat to humanity. Even developed countries cannot boast of being completely free from hunger and homelessness. Hunger has stricken 41 countries in the world, 33 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa where 186 million people live undernourished, 80 per cent of the children live with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 70 per cent of the adults live as AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) patients, and three quarters of the world’s deaths by AIDS reduce overall life expectancy by ten to twenty years.

While in many countries obesity is a problem, even amongst the young, diseases related to diets and eating habits are on the rise and wastage is rampant; people in other countries do not get enough to sustain life. While technology moves at breakneck speed to make “the world a better place to live”, a large portion of the human race is left without the basic needs for survival. While the cold war has been declared over, global expenditure on weaponry is still phenomenal. While we managed to send man to the moon, many are left without the basic needs for a decent living. While the number of millionaires and billionaires continues to increase despite the economic downturn in many parts of the world, there are many more who survive on less than $1 per day. While the majority in many developed, developing or less developed countries live in a world of excesses, many are denied the basic needs of sustaining life, including food, clothing and shelter.

Despite the efforts of the United Nations system and numerous programmes in addressing food and agriculture in the world, hunger still exists. While medical science has made living longer, healthier and more comfortable, the ravages of diseases continue to plague millions. Despite the heroic efforts of many individuals and voluntary non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help, hardly a dent has been made in resolving the global problem of hunger. This world of paradoxes - a world of contrasts, a world of inequalities, a world of opposites and an “unfair” world - has been allowed to continue and perpetuate.

Why? Is it not time we stop to address this problem?

In the ultimate, the following saying is so true: “Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him to fish, he will never go hungry.” But I would like to add: “Teach him aquaculture, and he will be an entrepreneur.” If it is trade that makes the world go round, we need every man and woman to be an entrepreneur.

The rapid growth of population has often been attributed as a major cause of increasing hunger, but this is not necessarily true. Hunger reigns where people are deprived of land ownership, employment, education, health care and security. While the worldwide birth rate is on the decline, hunger continues to increase. Certain developing countries, with half the size of fertile area and larger populations than their neighbours, thrive better, with little hunger and longer life expectancy. On the flip side, in some countries where population has been controlled, hunger still exists. Thus the relation between population size and hunger is not as clear, but the hypothesis that overpopulation leads to hunger is a myth.

It has been said that trade makes the world go round and indeed, in this modern world, trade is a critically important component of global activity. No one country can produce all of its needs. This synergistic relationship between countries, where one country produces goods cheaply for the consumption and use of others, can be a healthy and mutually benefiting arrangement. However, numerous barriers to effective and efficient trade have been put in place in many countries to protect the local producer.

While this is important and often necessary as the world production systems are not all in a “level playing field”, efforts at removing various trade barriers have not been proven to be constructive. Developing countries enhance production to increase trade and foreign exchange, often increasing exports while neglecting local needs. Increased production of soybeans in some developing countries, for example, helped the livestock industry in some developed countries, but caused local hunger to increase significantly due to deprivation of land for local farmers and other institutional problems. While exports can bring foreign exchange to Government and lucrative incomes to select groups of the population, this does not often necessarily bring improved local living standards. A price war resulting from the pursuit of “lowering the cost of production”, where low wages, lower working standards, little health safety considerations and minimum environmental standards are being given attention, often results in increased hunger. While world trade moves towards “globalization”, its potential impact on world poverty and hunger needs to be seriously addressed.

Nature or the environment can offer enough food for everyone on earth. The soil in even poor countries can reportedly produce more than 4.3 pounds of food-the average adult’s daily basic food requirement. But many countries still face various institutional limitations, such as land tenure, availability of water for farming, and the pursuit of production for export. There are countries that frequently suffer natural calamities, and their starvation rate resulting from them is often high, not only because of nature’s wrath but various human factors. Even in developed countries, natural phenomena such as cold waves can claim hundreds of lives every year. The unfortunate ones are those deprived by distribution of opportunities governed by the economy, which is an intangible massive force.

Technological advancement, especially the use of biotechnology, in food production has often been cited as the panacea to meet the global food requirement, but concerns about the negative impacts of genetically modified organisms have resulted in dampening optimism. Some countries in the third world have succeeded in increasing rice production using improved genetic materials, pesticides and fertilizers through modern research. However, the downside is that while it has not helped to bring down hunger in these countries, it has resulted in the degradation of soil fertility. If the use of pesticides and fertilizers is not preferable, and the use of genetically modified crops is not allowed, there is a proven alternative.

FAO Photo

Some countries have produced organically grown food crops and a particular country has been reported to have achieved self-reliance using such agriculture. However, economic factors overrule all others, including production, technology and distribution. With the advent of biotechnological tools in research and improvement in food production, it is feared that it will result in more unevenness in the distribution of equities that might ultimately raise the world hunger curve. Just as in the fear of the digital divide, the world food disparity may result due to an increasing “biotechnology divide”.

Aid from developed countries might be considered another alternative to alleviate global hunger in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, it is believed that only 5 per cent of aid reaches the hungry people. The very purpose of such aid is to make the countries overcome economic difficulties and give them time to find ways and means to stand on their own feet. Aid should not and should never be meant to be the final solution to a problem.

However, in many cases aid has become a near permanent feature in the national economy. The global economic relationship of debt has put many countries at the mercy of the global economic systems, and there is little option for them. Major portions of their production wealth drain into debt settlements. Repressive governments often reinforce hunger as part of the politics of international aid.

An NGO committed to fight against hunger calculates that world hunger could be reduced by 50 per cent by the year 2015. This can be achieved by some annual funding of $4 billion by all donor countries. Additionally, investments by public and private sectors in the donor recipient countries are also necessary to sustain the programme.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected by hunger, and any rescue programme must start there. Hunger is caused not by the fault of the unfortunates but as a result of numerous factors beyond their individual control, leading to deprivation and unequal distribution of opportunities. People lose their right to life, give up their liberty, miss happiness and live in hunger, and on the verge of the final pushing of death. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and a next meal is not sure. Yet, they are our fellow human beings. Do they have a glimpse of hope that the world one day would come to rescue them from this life of misery?

We as a human race have a collective responsibility to ensure that every man, woman and child in this world live with the same facilities, opportunities and living standards. However, this will remain only a dream if the present global systems persist. While individuals must make a concerted effort at improving themselves, the environment around them must provide them with the opportunities to do so. The solutions are and will not be easy, but difficult questions need to be answered and difficult problems must be resolved. The world has the resources to address all the problems with the technology and the global wealth that exists. However, do we have the will and commitment to do so?

Salleh Mohd Nor of the TropBio Research Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is a member of the Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics on Food and Agriculture.