World's Food Insecurity - Essay Sample

Introduction

World food crisis and food insecurity is the current major problem affecting the biggest percentage of people globally. Food shortage has led to world hunger escalated by rapid population growth that exceeds food production in the world. The issue of food shortage leading to hunger occurs when the food needs of a designated population exceeds the total food supply. From the above arguments, world hunger has significant effects on the growth of the world's gross domestic product due to the insufficient workforce and reduced productivity (McMichael, 281).

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Moreover, hunger has immense effects on a population that range from exposure to diseases, poor health, increased conflicts and insecurity. Therefore, it is important to reduce the world's hunger to zero and ensure food security to the population of the world. To fight world hunger, people should increase agricultural activities all over the world by providing education and financial support to vulnerable groups of people together with funding of genetically modified food. Food donation is not an affirmative action to end world hunger since donations provide situational solutions and not permanent solutions.

Thus, helping people to depend on themselves essentially reduces dependency and increases accountability, people's productivity, and food security via improved agricultural activities. This paper aims at discussing world hunger issue that affects a significant percentage of people globally. Furthermore, this paper will identify the major causes of hunger in the world and the effects it has on the population. Importantly, this paper will discuss the solution to world hunger and means of reducing food insecurity in the world and the inclusion of modern technology in agricultural activities. Feasibility of solution will support the argument and provide evidence that the solution provided is effective and dependable.

Causes of World Hunger

World hunger is basically caused by food shortage resulting from limited supply of food and high demand of it globally. When the ratio of domestic food production and the ratio of domestic food consumption defer by far, they cause instability and in most cases the consumption exceeds production. In such a situation, the available food becomes inadequate leading to a situation of food deficiency. Studies show that developing countries suffer hunger due to poor methods of farming.

Additionally, more than 800 million people fall victims of hunger in developing countries hence making a significant number of people in need of help. Moreover, apart from developing countries, the issue of hunger affects many other countries and hence increasing the number of people in need of food and the need to make mitigation plans to end hunger in the world. Therefore, hunger is among social ills caused by a variety of issues discussed by this paper.

Poverty is among the major issues that cause world hunger. The level of poverty in population is directly proportional to the level of food shortage and food insecurity. Poor communities suffer from hunger due to their inability to produce enough food for their populations. Poverty is therefore among the major causes of hunger since it is linked to lack of access to resources and purchasing power. Without purchasing power, an individual or a society cannot secure food from the market where people with surplus sell food. Moreover, lack of access to resources makes farming impossible hence the subjecting a population to hunger. Farm inputs are costly and hence they require capital to acquire them, thus making it difficult for low-income earners to acquire them. Poverty is linked to a number of factors including political structure, distribution of income and poor economic performance. Sanchez et al (2005) affirms that the three factors render poor people powerless regardless of the form of government, be it a dictatorship or democratic leadership. Therefore, the government has the power to end poverty by fostering economic growth which in return give people purchasing power.

The environment, consumption, and population are three elements the determine food security and status of hunger in the world. As a matter of fact, the rapid growth of population is a major cause of hunger in the world. Studies show that the world's inhabitants are likely to expand from 5.5 billion to 8 billion people within a span of four years. Concurrently, food production is supposed to be increased with the same proportion to cover the needs of the growing population. Nevertheless, there are no efforts in the world to increase food production and hence the world is suffering from hunger.

Besides, population growth creates the need for more settlement land. As a result, people clear land covered by plants to build houses hence reducing the carrying capacity of the planet earth. Furthermore, low agricultural productivity leads to hunger since the demand of food hoes higher than the supply hence requiring special measures implemented to remedy the situation (Rosset, 307).

Moreover, militarism and violence contribute a bigger percentage to hunger due to civil strife that causes severe human disasters. For instance, civil conflict has affected countries such as Mozambique, Burma, Somalia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Sudan. In these countries, civilians who are innocent fall victims of these conflicts and hunger is one of the big blows of the disputes. War leads to hunger since people cannot engage in productive activities such as farming or trade due to unstable political waves that cause the death of many innocent citizens.

Solutions to World Hunger

Funding production of genetically modified food would with much efficiency eliminate the aspect of world hunger through increasing farm yields in the world. Genetically modified plants are a potentially viable solution to food shortage and nutrition requirements in the world (Borlaug, 488). More funding and time should be allocated towards advancing the abilities of the world to modify the genetic composition of all plants. Research has found out that about 985 billion people in the world are victims of hunger and hence there is a need to increase plant productivity.

Jordan (2002) affirms that hunger weakens the body immune system which exposes the world population to dangers of contracting killer disease. It is, therefore, the responsibility of national governments to implement projects that facilitate increased yield of plants using the available resources. The only viable and long-lasting solution is focusing on growing genetically modified plants that double farm yields. Furthermore, teaching people new farming help in increasing the amount of food produced every season hence reducing the chances of hunger in the world.

The other solution to these catastrophic world hungers is improving economic activities of countries in the world to foster dependency and increased productivity. Economic superiority aid in securing food or farm inputs that are used in farming (Sanchez, 257). Moreover, if people in a country have the financial capacity to buy food from agriculturally rich countries, hunger can be unheard of in many countries. Besides, fighting gender inequality is among viable solution to improving a country's economic productivity. When everyone in a country contributes to economic development, it becomes easy to achieve food security and reducing the effects of hunger in countries.

Clearly, famine is one of the significant causes of hunger in the world that kill a big percentage of people. Finding a solution to fine would change the patterns of farming and rather than waiting for natural rain to water plants, irrigation can be used alternatively to water plants. , and hence the water is more than enough to water plants in places struck by famine (Qaim et al., 904). Moreover, to solve the problem of low rainfall, Environmental conservation is, and people should be educated to protect nature with its components. Massive afforestation would prevent the effects of draught from extending to more countries.

Feasibility of Solution

The solutions provided to curb world hunger are effective, and we can pinpoint their efficiency by looking at current successes witnessed in countries that practice modern farming. China is among the countries with the highest population with limited, but hunger is unheard among its community. China has embraced modern farming technology and more particularly genetically modified plants. Genetically modified plants yield a double amount of food compared to normal plants. Additionally, the solution of increasing economic activities among citizens increases their purchasing power enabling them to procure food whenever there is famine.

Counter Argument

The above solutions are against the argument that Powerful countries should donate food to fight hunger in vulnerable countries. As a matter of fact, there are countries in the world with plenty of food, and they can afford to supply countries faced with natural calamities and political unrests. Nevertheless, food relief can be offered barely and hence it cannot be enough for the people in need. Moreover, helping people find permanent solutions to hunger is better than providing them aid for a few months.

Conclusion

A significant percentage of people in the world are suffering from hunger, and they are exposed to diseases due to weak immune systems. Therefore, there is need to join efforts to fund projects that aim at fighting hunger in the world. To combat hunger, local and international organizations in conjunction with the government should facilitate modern farming and emphasis should be put on genetically modified food. Apparently, the yield of farms will double, and people suffering from hunger will secure enough food to sustain their lives.

Works Cited

Norman, Borlaug E. "Ending world hunger. The promise of biotechnology and the threat of antiscience zealotry." Plant physiology 124.2 (2000): 487-490.

Jordan, Carl F. "Genetic engineering, the farm crisis, and world hunger." BioScience 52.6 (2002): 523-529.

McMichael, Philip. "A food regime analysis of the 'world food crisis'." Agriculture and human values 26.4 (2009): 281.

Rosset, Peter M. "Transgenic crops to address third world hunger? A critical analysis." Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 25.4 (2005): 306-313.

Sanchez, S. Swaminathan and Pedro A. "Cutting world hunger in half." Science 307.5708 (2005): 357-359.

Qaim, David Zilberman and Martin. "Yield effects of genetically modified crops in developing countries." Science 299.5608 (2003): 900-902.