Everything happens for a reason. For a global crisis, which is famine, this saying is fairly accurate. Yet, famine happens not only for a reason but for complex reasons. Aside from its characteristically intricate origins, the consequences of famine are also multifaceted. Likewise, the definition of the term "famine" is not that easy to grasp as it may seem. The common perception of famine is a condition in which there is an extremely scarce supply of food. Consequently, because of inadequate food availability and consumption, there is also an abrupt decline in the level of food consumption of a particular large population. Starvation proceeds then because people are continuously subsisting without sufficient food supply and this condition worsens when famine is under sway; similarly, mortality rate is high due to unprecedented incidences of starvation. However, famine is not only attributable to an extreme and prolonged shortage of food but it also underlines economic, political and social trends that can transpire when food supplies are adequate to avert its emergence.
[...] In one of the richest nations in the world, the United States, the allocation of the population dealing with starvation increased from 8 percent in 1985 to 12 percent in 1990. Yet, famine in industrialized nations is neither serious nor pervasive as compared to the developing countries (Cohen and Reeves 1995, para 2). Observable Consequences of Famine The unpleasant consequences of famine are widespread because these include physical, psychological, social and economic problems. Malnutrition results from food shortage within a short period of time. Both the children and the elderly fall short in growing, learning and suffer from excessive weight loss, lack of energy and diminished work capacity. [...]
[...] If this phenomenon occurs, poor people will have nothing to eat not because of food shortage but because of their incapacity to buy food. The needed calories of each individual under wage labor are not met because of the low value of their animals, cash crops and labor in relation to food prices. This exchange rate failure as Sen calls it, is one of the most important factors that set off famine in the developing countries of Africa and Asia (Swift 2006, p. 42). [...]
[...] Furthermore, the division of world countries into two categories, namely, the industrialized and developed countries and the impoverished and developing countries makes it more difficult to ascertain the precise determinant of famine since the condition of food calamity in these two dissimilar nations are widely varied and erratic (Fitzgibbon and Hennessy 2003). According to popular belief, third world countries or developing nations are more prone to suffer from famine and starvation because they do not have adequate wealth and resources to keep their people satisfactorily fed and in good physical shape. [...]
[...] The Masai, in the 1890s were decimated when a famine struck their area because of a disease produced by the rinderpest epizootics which killed game herds and cattle herds (Talbot 1972 as cited in Cox 1981). Access to Land In all cultures, individuals, families and communities have their own methods of earning their sources of survival or livelihood. Livelihood ranges from waged occupation to self-managed ventures and to subsistence farming. If people's way of subsistence is permitted to continue without external interventions, individuals, families or communities will have adequate access to food for survival at the minimum level. [...]
[...] http://www.ifpri.org/2020/briefs/number19.htm 2.) Cox, G.W The Ecology of Famine: An Overview, In Robson, J.K. (ed.) Famine: Its Causes, Effects and Management, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, London. 3.) Derose, L., Messer, E., and Millman, S Who's Hungry?, United Nations University Press, New York. 4.) Fitzgibbon, M. and Hennessy, N Roots of Famine, The International Famine Centre, University College, Cork. http://www.ucc.ie/famine/roots/pdfs/Roots%20of%20Famine2.pdf 5.) Food and Agriculture Organization. Trade Yearbook and 1974 ( Rome and 1975). 6.) Ghosh, P Health, Food and Nutrition in Third World Development, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. [...]
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