World Hunger 12 Myths

Food First

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Text adapted from 12 Myths about Hungerhttp://www.foodfirst.org/12myths

Myth 1

Not Enough Food to go Around• Reality:

– Abundance of food• 3,200 calories/person in

grains

• Also vegetables, beans, nuts, root crops, grass-fed meats, fish.

– Most people too poor to buy the food

– Many hungry countries are net exporters of food

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Vietnam food market

Myth 2

Nature is to Blame for Famine• Reality:

– Food is always available • to those who can afford it

– Starvation hits the poorest

– Human institutions, policies • determine who will eat

during hard times

– Millions live near disaster• Deprived of land

• Debt

• Low pay

– Society values economic efficiency over compassion

Famine in Ethiopia

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Myth 3

Too Many People• Reality:

– World is undergoing demographic transition

• Birth rates dropping due to decline in death rates

– No direct correlation between population and hunger

• Hunger in Nigeria– Sparsely populated

• Wealth in Netherlands– Densely populated

– Population growth due to poverty and inequity

• People’s lives must improve before birth rates drop

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Myth 4

The Environment vs. More Food?• Reality:

– Environmental crisis• is threatening food

production

– Efforts to feed the hungry • are not causing the

environmental crisis

– Profits for developed countries are the problem

• Deforestation

• PesticidesDeforestation in Brazil for hardwoods

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Myth 5The Green Revolution is the Answer

• Reality:– Green Revolution:

• Huge production advances with improved seeds

– But economic power• Still concentrated in hands of

a few• Poor cannot afford to buy

grain

– Hunger persists while grain exports have increased

• India• Mexico• Philippines

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“Father” of the Green Revolution

Myth 6

We Need Large Farms• Reality:

– Large landowners control best land

• Often leave much of it idle• Often inefficiently farmed by

tenet farmers– No incentive

– Small farmers• 4-5 X output/acre• Work more intensively

– Land Reform • Distributes land to small

farmers• Successful in raising yields

Bolivian Farmer

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Myth 7

The Free Market Can End Hunger• Reality:

– Market is efficient in distributing food

• If you can buy it

– To end world hunger via the market

• Must have widely dispersed purchasing power

– Is a role for government to help disperse purchasing power to the poor

• Through taxes, credits, land reforms

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Kenya Market

Myth 8

Free Trade is the Answer• Reality

– In poorest countries• Exports boomed, hunger

worsened

– Brazilian soybeans• Feed cattle in Europe and

Japan• Brazilian hunger grows

– NAFTA: “race for the bottom”

• Working people pitted against one another

– 1 million jobs lost in U.S.– 1.3 million jobs lost in

Mexico

Soybean Harvest in Brazil

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Myth 9

Too Hungry to Fight for Their Rights• Reality

– People do fight for their rights• Mexico

• South Africa

– People will feed themselves if allowed to

– We need only remove the obstacles we have placed in their way

• Large corporations

• U.S. Government policies

• World Bank and IMF

Zapatistas in Mexico

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Myth 10

More U.S. Aid Will Help the Hungry• Reality:

– Most U.S. Aid works directly against the hungry

• Aid used to– Impose free trade– Promote exports– Provide arms

– Emergency humanitarian Aid• Only 8% of total• Undercuts grain production

in receiving country• Benefits U.S. Grain

companies• Little reaches the poor

– Best Aid: relieve Debt burden

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Myth 11

We Benefit from Their Poverty

• Reality:– Continued world

poverty and hunger • is a threat to

American– Jobs, wages

– Working conditions

– Helping free others from oppression

• Helps free us tooSweat Shop in India

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Myth 12

Curtail Freedom to End Hunger?• Reality:

– Civil liberties• Not threatened by ending hunger

– Economic security for all• Guarantees liberty

• Consistent with our nation’s founding vision

• Important for ending hunger

– Right to unlimited accumulation of wealth?

• Not compatible with ending hunger

• Contributes to inequity– Unjusthttp://k43.pbase.com/u36/jwalk/large/23732152.mansion.jpg