REVEL Hugo PELP2, UG1

Subject :

FOOD INSECUR ITY:

Since the last few decades , one of the biggest matters is: food insecurit y. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) report shows that 15% of the world population is touched by this issue. The food insecurit y lays a hand on Africa and Asia especiall y. In order to have a better comprehension of the problem it is important to define the food insecurit y: a limited or uncertain access to nutritious, sale foods necessary to lead a healthy life st yle; households that experience food insecurit y have irregular food intake. (USDA /life research office). This essay will first explain the main causes of the food inse curit y. It will then examine the different solutions to these causes and discuss on how successful are they in a short or a long term.

First of all, in order to consider how the food insecurit y is so important in our days, it is necessary to understand t he evolution of our world since the Second World War. After this historical fact, the United S tates of America and Europe saw there econom y increased sharpl y. It is at this moment that a

huge gap was created between the North and the South. This is why in our actual societ y we try to fix this difference in order to have an equitable world. Nevertheless this fact is not a principal cause of the food insecur it y. One of the main causes are the Natural disaster s.

The natural causes are unpredictable and powerful. The draughts are essentially localized in sub-Saharan Africa. These draughts are due to the fall of the precipitations. According to Pedro A Sanchez and M S Swaminathan (2005,p357), this natural disaster cause a great deal of issues to the local population. The direct consequences are, the on-set will dry the earth. The indirect repercussion is that it will deeply emasculate their force to work the earth but also to protect them selves of the bacteria. One can say that food insecurity does not just involve undernourishment, it also include a predisposition to have the VIH virus. Another natural cause is the flood. This is a very actual problem with the Pakistan according to the IDMC (internal displacement monitoring centre) there is at least more than 1.2 million Pakistani displace. The number of flood has risen progressively. This is cited in The State of Food insecurity in the World (2008,p18)

About 50 floods per year in the mid-1980s to more than 200 today

The floods cause a great deal of problems to the local population it up root the houses, destroy the fields, and can kill people One may deduce that it diminished considerably the economy of the state.

Furthermore these natural causes lead these countries to have a low agricultural productivity, or a problem related with the water which is that they have no enough water for their countries and their fields, according to Pedro A. Sanchez in Cutting world hunger in Half (2005,p357).

Low agricultural productivity is likely to be the primary reason in tropical Africa and remote parts of Asia and Latin America.

Nevertheless, the natural causes are not the only responsible of the food insecurity. There are also the Human causes. Firstly is the political view and action of some of the leader of the countries. For example in Africa, more over in Congo Brazzaville with Denis Sassou Nguesso the actual prsident, this personne is taking a huge amount of money to his country. This kind of people are acting is their own profit and not for their country. Additionally, Laurent Gbagbo the actual president of the Ivory Coast is doing an internal war, which weakened the economy of the country, because he invests in weapons and not in agriculture and nutrition. However this kind of person represent a minor party of the human causes. The main part is due to economic and social factors. It deals with the control of the food price making by the North (USA and Europe union). According to the IMF (International Monetary Fund): Food prices have risen by 45% since end-2006.

This lead us to believe that there is today a strong demand from the emerging countries. But the prices of the basic ingredients are so expensive that those states are not able to afford it. One may deduce that it is slackening their economic evolution or their possibilities to be a stabilize country.

However some people are trying to find solutions to these causes but not all of them are efficient in a long term. In the first instance, one of the main solutions to the natural causes is the organisations such as FAO, GIEWS (Global Information and Early Warning System) or the United nations with the Millennium Development Goals. These organisations have for purpose to prevent and register every disasters and food insecurity in world in order to do some more efficient actions. Nevertheless it seems to be that they cannot change a many things because the problem is too important. One may deduce these organisations are the beginning of a solution but for the moment they are not in a short or a long term a relevant solution because they are only here to prevent and they do not have enough money to resolve these problems. Moreover these disasters are more unpredictable they more sudden so they do not have any time to prevent or prepare a help operation.

Although some governments made some research in farming and discovered the GMO (Genetically Modified Organism). This permit to cultivate the basic ingredients in a low agricultural productivity earth. This new organism can fight cold winter, intense draughts and problems of water. It seems to be a great solution but there are some healthy and environmental issues in a long term. It can be dangerous for the human and the nature. One may deduce that the GMO is a solution in a short time but it will bring new problems in a long term (www.csa.com). For the countries how do not have enough water for they fields because they use it in a wrong way or because the draught are too intense the treadle pump is the solution. Because these countries need to have a competitive irrigation, which cost a lot, this is why the treadle pump is essential for them because they are not expansive. Costing less than 35$ quoting from Sandra Postel (p6). So they can afford these pumps. Nevertheless the treadle pump is not the only solutions in order to fight the water problem. Recycling wastewater is one of them. It consists to use more than once the water. One may deduce we need less water, this solution is respectful towards the nature, but it can be apply only for a community because it is impossible that a whole country respect this.

What can be done for causes related to human are: Firstly, if we see more deeply these countries they are all in war, they are very instable on the political, social and economic aspect. So the first thing to do is to establish peace in order to balance their politic and economy. This task is already taken by the UN (United Nations) with

the blue berets. Nevertheless this is not a new solution; it existed since a long time ago. One may understand that is not really working because we still cannot eradicate the war from our world.

One may imagine in order to balance the leadership of the North to create something similar as the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), which as for purpose to help the European countries from the competition.

The CAP is a form of protectionism designed to defend European producers from cheaper products outside the Europe

Which means that there is no problem with the high food prices because they still control it. It leads us to believe that for example between every African country needs to be created a community, a partnership such the PAC or the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). With this kind of organization they will have the possibility to challenge the North and to end this leadership on the food prices. However this idea is hard to imagine. Because, if Africa wants to create a community between all of them, it is essential to have peace and a stable economy in every country.

This essay has discussed the origins of the food insecurity in the world by examining the natural causes and the human causes. On one hand we saw that there are many solutions to avoid the food insecurity such as the prevention, the OGM. We saw the importance of the peace and advance the idea of create a community. However, on the other hand one can see that every solution is not incontrovertible and they are not useful in a long term.

This essay has 1.469 words.