Famines

1. Famines Sources: The World Food Problem (2004, Leathers and Foster) World Hunger 12 Myths (1998, Lappe, Collins, and Rossett)

2. Irish Potato Famine • 1845-1849 potato blight • 1 million people died of starvation • 1.5 million people emigrated • Ireland was a colony of England • Ireland was a net exporter of wheat and beef • Europe also had blight but starvation only in Ireland • British policies http://www.gormanfamilytree.com/images/famine2.jpg

3. People Most Vulnerable to Famine • Poor rural people: crop failure • Small scale farmers • Unemployed tenant farmers • Landless agriculture workers • Pastoralists • Drought • Low animal prices http://www.sonic.net/~evolve/wp/human_ecology/sudan_famine_7.jpg

4. Bangladesh Famine, 1974 • 100,000 died • Blamed on floods that destroyed crops • Actually never a shortage of food • Wealthy farmers hoarded food • Poor could not afford to buy food

5. Sub-Saharan Africa (Sahel) • Recurring Famines 1970s, 80s • Blamed on Drought • But grow enough to feed everybody • Exports continued: cotton, vegetables, peanuts • Poor, indebted farmers suffer most • Desertification a problem • Aid supported export crops

6. Ethiopia • Drought 1982-85: 300,000 people died • Drought uneven: affected only 30% of land • Civil War: post-colonial problem • Government spent billions on military, incurred huge debt: encouraged cash crops • Government farms fed military, huge army reduced numbers of farm workers • 800,000 relocated http://i.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1987/1101871221_400.jpg

7. Rwanda • 1990s: Genocide, civil war, starving refugees • Country dependent on coffee exports: prices dropped plunging economy into crisis • World Bank, IMF “structural adjustment” doubled number in poverty • Rebels attacked most fertile region • Ethnic tensions left over from colonialism exploded, 500,000 killed • Crop production dropped, economy collapsed

8. Sudan • Rebellion in Darfur starting 2003 • Region size of France • Farming villages bombed by Sudan government • To fight rebels • Ethnic cleansing by Pro-Arab militia (Janjaweed) • kill, rape, burn • Genocide? • 2.5 million refugees • 200,000- 450,000 dead • Many from starvation Refugees in Darfur, Sudan http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm

9. Famines are a Social Disaster • Vulnerability of the poor • Disasters result in poor losing land • Opportunity for the rich? • Claim to food may be lost • If too poor to buy food • Right to food? • Vulnerability of agriculture to nature • Poor conservation due to economic pressure • Hunger used as a weapon

10. Ukraine Famine • Policy: Soviet Union established collective farms in 1930s • Policy: Quotas set for farm production • Policy: Food seized from farms to make quotas • 6-8 million Ukrainians died 1932-1933

11. Great Leap Forward Famine1959-1961 • Policy & Ideology: China reorganized farms into large communes • Huge production predicted • Policy: Food exports increased in 1959 • Based on predictions • Poor weather resulted in low production • 30 million people died Propaganda Poster http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/ChinaLinks-New/Images-ChinaLinks1-07/glf.jpg

12. North Korean Famine • 1990s – 500,000 - 3Million died of starvation • N. Korea doesn’t grow enough food for it’s population • Food rationed by government • Priority to military and party loyalists • With collapse of Soviet Union, grain aid reduced in 1990s • Industrial base too weak to afford grain imports • Military: • 1.2 million soldiers • ¼ N. Korean budget http://www.nkfreedom.org/fileadmin/Image_Archive/Photo_2girls.jpg

13. Disaster Relief Needs • Better governance: democracy • Early warning, rapid response • Increase food availability • Discourage hoarding • Domestic production • Distribution to needy • Food or cash • Stabilization of food prices Rwanda refugee camp