Famines

Sources:

The World Food Problem (2004, Leathers and Foster)

World Hunger 12 Myths (1998, Lappe, Collins, and Rossett)

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

People Most Vulnerable to Famine

• Poor rural people: crop failure– Small scale farmers

– Unemployed tenant farmers

– Landless agriculture workers

• Pastoralists– Drought

– Low animal priceshttp://www.sonic.net/~evolve/wp/human_ecology/sudan_famine_7.jpg

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

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

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

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

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm

http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php

Refugees in Darfur, Sudan

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

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

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 diedPropaganda Posterhttp://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/ChinaLinks-New/Images-ChinaLinks1-07/glf.jpg

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

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 pricesRwanda refugee camp