Assignment 2: Poverty And Food Security

Poverty and Food Security

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Affiliation

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Poverty and Food Security

Food insecurity is emerging as one of the most threatening issues of the twenty-first century. According to the researchers, by the end of the twenty-first century, a significant number of the world population would not get access to the nutritious food sources, which would result in deaths of children and young people due to malnutrition. The greatest problem at the time is not the production of the food, as there are enough sources to produce quality food if they are utilized in a feasible manner. The real issue is the supply of the food products in the limited time to the needy populations of the world. Most of the third world countries are experiencing the issues of malnutrition of the infants and children, even after the efforts of the united nation and World Bank to supply the nutritious food items to those deserving and needy populations (Dunkelman, Kerr, & Swatuk, 2018). The political issues of the third world countries, as well as the developed countries around them, is also playing an important role in making the life of the common people tougher as the influential authorities take control of the movement of food items and cause trouble to the general population. The united nations, as well as other influential and human rights organization, need to play their role in resolving the issues of the third world countries, as well as come up with the strategies to provide food to such people and provide them a better chance of living.

Food Insecurity and Role of Population Growth

According to Hall, Dawson, Macdiarmid, Matthews, and Smith (2017), one of the leading causes of the food insecurity over the coming years, in more than forty African countries would be the growth of the population. In addition to it, the climate changes would be the second leading cause of the food insecurity over the next two decades. The concept of food insecurity is not new for the people of the twenty-first century. It means the unavailability of the nutritious and sustainable food resources to the population of the world. Most of the times the poor people, who are unable to afford the means of production or the means of earning money are among the food-deprived population of the world. A great majority of the third world countries like Congo, Haiti, and other African countries are included in the list of the countries which are facing the severe issue of food insecurity. There are two basic causes which play an important role in causing the deficiency of food supplies in such countries. The foremost cause is that these countries are not self-sufficient in agricultural and economic production; therefore, governments are not able to meet the needs of the whole population. The second cause is that the populations of such countries keep growing and there are not enough resources to take care of the nutritious needs of the newborn. Food insecurity is rising due to the increase in population because of the fact that the government authorities are not able to meet the needs of the existing population, and the increase in population results in the increased needs of the general public. The governments do get aid and food supplies from the international organizations; however, those are not enough to meet the needs of the all the food-deprived populations (Conceição, Levine, Lipton, & Warren-Rodríguez, 2016).

Factors Interrupting the Flow of Food

The developing country which is selected for the project assessment is Haiti. There is a number of factors which play an important role in interrupting the flow of food from the sources to the general population. One of the most important causes is that the country is always at the risk of natural disasters. In the past few years, it has been stricken with drought, earthquake, and floods multiple times. The natural disasters cause severe destruction in the country, leaving the general public dependent upon the aid and support of the international organizations. The natural disaster not only destroys the homes of the public but also impact the economy of the country, due to which they become unable to afford the food and health facilities. On the other hand, the occurrences of natural disasters also impact the transfer of the food supplies to different parts of the country. Moreover, the recent drought in the country which w followed by hurricanes and floods has destroyed the already scarce food production means of the country, leaving its public totally dependent upon the foreign aid. The adverse climatic conditions play an important role in delaying the supply of food sources to the needy population. Another important factor which impacts the condition of the public is that the outburst of the deadly diseases like cholera plays an important role in affecting the health of the suffering population while resulting in greater number of deaths. Another important factor which affects the flow of food in the country is the poor economic condition of the general population. They are not able to afford the price of the nutritious food which is supplied in the market by the government authorities. Sometimes, the conflicts of the political parties also play an important role in interrupting the flow of food supplies to the needy population, as every party tries to win the favor of the public by controlling the channels of food supply (Umesha, Manukumar, & Chandrasekhar, 2018).

Technological Means to Reduce Hunger and Improve Food Security

One of the greatest issues contributing to the food insecurity in Haiti is the frequent occurrence of natural disasters, which ruin the agricultural production and leave the general public dependent on the aid of international organizations. The country is not economically developed, so the organizations like the United Nations and World Bank need to play an important role in helping out the country. The technological means can be used to reduce hunger and improve food security in the country. Most importantly the country needs to work on the means of predicting the natural disasters and taking the measures of saving the already ripe crops. Moreover, the country needs to work on the artificial production of food. They can also set up the plants of indoor food production; however, all of that needs economic resources. Another important thing that can help the country in its economic development is to focus on the other economies, like they can work on developing the reusable energy and trade food, in return of services provided to other countries. Moreover, the general public needs to be educated about the modern means of production, so that they are able to grow food products for their own needs (Saxena, 2018).

This is the most important time to take action and improve the situation of food insecurity so that future generations do not have to fight the wars of getting food resources. The population of the world is increasing at a greater rate; however, the sources of food production are not increasing at the same rate. So, the world organizations need to work on the development of artificial food production, while ensuring the nutritious level and sustainability of the food products. Moreover, a great quantity of food products is being wasted in the developed countries of the world on a daily basis. The government organizations, as well as the general public, need to take action in order to save the food and supply it to the food insecure countries of the world where people are dying due to hunger and malnutrition.

References

Conceição, P., Levine, S., Lipton, M., & Warren-Rodríguez, A. (2016). Toward a food secure future: Ensuring food security for sustainable human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Food Policy, 60, 1-9.

Dunkelman, A., Kerr, M., & Swatuk, L. A. (2018). The New Green Revolution: Enhancing Rainfed Agriculture for Food and Nutrition Security in Eastern Africa. In Water, Energy, Food and People Across the Global South (pp. 305-324). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Hall, C., Dawson, T. P., Macdiarmid, J. I., Matthews, R. B., & Smith, P. (2017). The impact of population growth and climate change on food security in Africa: looking ahead to 2050. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 15(2), 124-135.

Saxena, N. C. (2018). Hunger, under-nutrition and food security in India. In Poverty, Chronic Poverty and Poverty Dynamics (pp. 55-92). Springer, Singapore.

Umesha, S., Manukumar, H. M., & Chandrasekhar, B. (2018). Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. In Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture (pp. 67-92). Woodhead Publishing.