What Causes Hunger Around the World?

In 1993, the American magazine New York Times published one of the most sorrowful pictures in the history of humanity. It was a photo of a Sudanese toddler dying of hunger while a big vulture is waiting for her fatal moment to make her body its prey. The picture illustrates a hazardous idea of how monstrous and dreadful the calamity of famine can be.

Even after 24 years of that tragic death of the Sudanese child, the problem of hunger is still spreading around the world. So then, what are the main causes of the famine? Actually, there are three principle reasons for the propagation of hunger: overpopulation, inefficient agriculture, and disasters.

1- Overpopulation
Many reports have proven that the issue of overpopulation is the first main reason of hunger. Statistics show that countries whose populations rise remarkably, have more exposure to be hit by the epidemic of famine. Moreover, developing countries usually come on the top of the list. Accordingly, poverty also contributes to the spread of famine. As a matter of example, some poor families tend to have so many children; consequently, as the demand for food rises, parents cannot provide it sufficiently to all the members.

For this reason, in order to fight against hunger, several countries have promulgated laws that concern birth-control. For instance, China had known a noticeable decrease in hunger rates after its qualitative procedure of birth-control. Therefore, so many other countries have followed the same path as China in order to stop the population growth, and fight the famine.

2- Inefficient Agriculture
The inefficient agriculture causes food shortages; therefore, it causes hunger. As a matter of fact, producing sufficient food depends certainly on a well-sophisticated agriculture field. For the most part, developing countries cannot accommodate all nutritional needs of the people. This is due to crumbling infrastructure and poor agricultural practices. So then, they’re obliged to import it from other countries. For instance, American grain products, especially corn, are exported to many African countries like Morocco. These countries, which cannot achieve self-sufficiency of food, may face a serious problem of hunger. Therefore, the trade of food has a major impact on reducing famine and poverty in the third world.

3- Disasters
The third major cause of famine is disasters. In addition to extreme climate changes and natural catastrophes, this last reason behind hunger also includes wars and conflicts. So then, calamities, whether they were natural disasters or wars, leave dramatic impacts on the production of arable land. For example, storms, earthquakes, flood and droughts can cause communities a lot of destruction and an unimaginable damage of food sources. It’s no coincidence that many countries which are exposed to natural disasters are also the regions most ravaged by hunger. Haiti and Ethiopia make perfect examples of countries whose populations were destroyed by famine. On another hand, wars and conflicts are also major causes of hunger. As they force people to abandon their homes, these calamities contribute in famine spread. In many cases, families face a drop in income and access to arable land. Worse than that, food is often seized and directed to fighters, leaving the really needy people to suffer.