10.

3 Access to food
More than one billion people suffer from extreme In developing countries, an estimated 8 million
poverty and hunger. They cannot buy or produce people die each year and about 16  000 children die
enough food for their basic needs. Halving each day from hunger or hunger-related causes.
the number of hungry people in the world is top of Many children die from starvation, but most die from
the list of the Millennium Development Goals. treatable diseases, such as measles and malaria,
because hunger lowers their resistance to illness.
Why are people hungry? While many people suffer from hunger in
developing countries, obesity has become a
There is enough food to feed everyone on Earth.
serious health problem in developed countries.
World hunger is not due to a scarcity of food — it is
Obesity rates in developing countries are
due to unequal distribution of wealth.
now also increasing. Obesity is largely due to
Factors causing hunger include:
worldwide changes in the types of food that people
• Many people in developing countries are trapped
eat, particularly a substantial increase in the
in a cycle of poverty. Families are usually large
consumption of vegetable oils and animal fats.
and few jobs are available, particularly for those
without skills. People cannot afford to pay for
food, let alone housing, health care and education. Global citizenship
• Natural disasters — for example, droughts, floods Several UN agencies work to help the hungry.
and earthquakes can cause famine, which is a In 2008, the World Food Programme (WFP)
severe shortage of food in a region. Famine leads provided food assistance to 102.1 million people
to skyrocketing food prices. Some sections of the in 78 countries. WFP’s school meals programme
population, usually the poorest, are more likely to helped feed almost 23 million children in
face starvation than others. 68 countries.
• Wars displace millions of people and cause some Many NGOs such as World Vision and Freedom
of the world’s worst hunger emergencies. from Hunger also provide emergency aid for
• Export of agricultural products to pay debt. Many people in desperate need. World Vision’s 40 Hour
countries are in debt and reduce their debt by Famine encourages people to go without food
exporting the food they grow. for 40 hours — to experience what it is like to go

World hunger, 2009

Arctic Circle

Tropic of Cancer

Equator

Tropic of Capricorn

0 2000 4000 km N

Percentage of population undernourished

Source: Data derived from World Food Programme.

224 Geoactive 1
without, while at the same time raising money for
children in poverty. •  T he richest 20 per cent
Make Poverty History is the largest anti-poverty   of the world’s population
movement in history. The campaign involves more consume nearly half of the world’s meat and fish.
than 80 countries, thousands of aid agencies, •  About 135 million tonnes of grain is fed to
community groups across the world and millions of livestock each year in the USA. This is enough to
individuals. The focus of the campaign is to ensure feed 400 million people on a vegetarian diet.
• Livestock graze on about half of the Earth’s total
governments honour their commitments to the
arable land area. About one-quarter of the world’s
Millennium Development Goals. It was launched cropland is used to produce grains and other feed
in 2005 and publicised by celebrities such as for livestock.
U2’s Bono, Bob Geldof and Brad Pitt. Australians,
including TV personality Rove McManus and
musicians Missy Higgins and Lior, have also taken
a public stand for Make Poverty History. activities
UNDERSTANDING
Are there too many people on Earth to feed? 1 If there is sufficient food for everyone on Earth,
Birth rates are falling around the world and food production is why does hunger exist?
increasing at a faster rate than population. 2 List four factors that cause hunger in developing
How much food does the world produce? countries.
300 kilograms of grain (wheat, rice, millet) per person per year — 3 What is a famine? What can cause famine?
enough food to feed everyone on Earth. Some countries stockpile
surplus food.
4 Why are hungry people more likely to be sick?
5 Name two global organisations that help the hungry.
Do all countries produce enough food? 6 What does the Make Poverty History campaign
Eighty-nine countries do not produce enough food to feed their
population and they lack the money to import the shortage. One in want governments to do?
five Africans now depends on imported food.
Thinking and applying
Is there enough farmland to grow food? 7 Refer to the labelled photograph at left.
The best land is generally used for growing cash crops such as coffee a How many people can’t afford enough food
(Ethiopia), cotton (Sudan) and drugs (Afghanistan, Myanmar and
Colombia).
because they live on less than US$1 a day?
b Who does most of the farming work in Africa?
Would land reform help? c Why does India export food when it has such
More land given to poor farmers would help reduce food insecurity. large numbers of hungry people?
In Bolivia, 85% of the rural population has no land to grow crops; in the
Philippines 78%, in Peru 75% and in Mexico 60%.
d Is growing more food for the world’s poor the
answer? Explain.
Is there enough money to buy food?
Despite improvements, there are still 1.1 billion people who live Using your skills
on less than a US$1 a day. 8 Refer to the World hunger map.
Who grows the food? a How does the key or legend on the map help
Over 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for an income — 96% you instantly see the pattern of world hunger?
live in developing countries. In Africa, women perform most of the b Which continent has the most undernourished
agricultural work. They do: 30% of ploughing, 50% of planting, population?
70% of weeding, 60% of harvesting, 50% of caring for c Which three continents have the best access
livestock, and 85% of processing and storing crops.
to food?
Which countries suffer hunger? d Refer to the map, and an atlas, to describe the
Hungry people are mostly found in the developing regions of distribution of the world’s undernourished people.
the world: 51% of the population in Asia, 33% in Africa, 11% in
9 Compare the World hunger map with the map of
Latin America and 5% in the Middle  East.
GDP per capita on page 220.
Why do countries export food when they a List three countries with:
have hungry people? •  high GDP and a low percentage of hungry
The money earned from food exports is often used to people
pay debts. India has the largest number of hungry •  low GDP and a high percentage of hungry
people in the world, but it still sells food on the world people.
market.
b Can you locate any countries that have a high
How much food is enough? GDP and a high percentage of hungry people?
The average requirement to remain healthy is c Describe the relationships you have found
2200 to 2400 calories per person per day. Hungry, between the two maps.
malnourished people receive less than 2100 calories
per day.

Chapter 10  |  An unequal world 225