Causes of Hunger and Famine in Sub-Saharan Africa - Literature review Example

Causes of Hunger and Famine in Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa Various problems have affected Africa in many dimensions and at different extents. Although the African countries are developing, some of the challenges have not been solved. Currently, many African states have shown potential to grow and develop their economic powers. However, a major issue of hunger and famine in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa remains a serious problem. Some states in this region have no ability to feed its population. As revealed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, millions of people in the sub-Saharan parts of Africa are under famine and hunger. This region consists of many hungry people every year, and it was ranked second in the world. The highest proportion of the inhabitants of this region face famine, starvation and rely on food aids from donors. According to World Hunger Education Service, more than 25% of the people living in the sub-Saharan Africa face hunger. Despite the devastating effects of this problem, little efforts have been put in reducing hunger in the region. This paper investigates the major causes of hunger and famine in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Hunger and Famine in Sub-Saharan Africa Incidences of hunger and starvation in the sun-Saharan region of Africa has a long history. In the early twentieth century prevalence of famine was quite common (Thorbecke, 2013: i45). As time went by, the African states fought for their independence and economic developments started. This subsided hunger and famine for decades. In the late 1970s, the problems restarted in Africa and the sub-Saharan region was most affected (Foli and Béland, 2014: 19). This resulted in intervention by international humanitarian organizations. More than 30% of the population in this region depended on the food aids, a situation that has continued to date. Hunger refers to a condition in which there is no enough food to feed the people, and the population is undernourished (McKay and Thorbecke, 2015: 37). In such a scenario, people do not eat enough food that is required to provide energy for their active lives. The activities of hungry people are negatively affected, and their general productivity reduces. Famine on the other hands results as the food reserves continually get depleted leaving the population with no food to survive. This condition is dangerous, and if relief food is not provided, people die. It can be concluded that hunger refers to a condition where the food available to people is insufficient while famine indicates the lack of food (Minot, 2014: 55). Causes of Hunger and Famine in the Sub-Saharan Africa Food security is where all people in a country or a region can access sufficient food that can meet their dietary requirements for a healthy life (Seo, 2014: 160). In the sub-Saharan Africa, there exist food shortage. The available food is not sufficient to people, and the majority of the population cannot access enough food. As it has been identified, hunger and famine are chronic problems in the region (Bain, 2013: 6; Von Grebmer, 2015: 32). Several factors are associated with the occurrence of these issues as discussed below. I) Poverty Poverty indicates the lack of economic power and ability to raise money to buy food. In the sub-Saharan region, almost half of the population below two dollars in a day. According to World Bank data, by 2012, 47% of the people in this region lived below $ 1.90 a day (Arndt, McKay, and Tarp, 2016: 32). This implies that people in this area have limited money to acquire sufficient food. Adequate nutrition provisions require enough resource allocation. With the little income received by the households in this region, people cannot afford to purchase adequate food (Prakash and Stigler, 2012: 2). Also, the little income does not allow people to practice sustainable agriculture. In the region, people are not able to purchase the necessary farm inputs that could enable them to produce enough food. In most cases, the economic performance of the states in the region is poor. The governments rely on international donors and foreign governments for financial support (Bloom and Chan, 2015: 27). This form of revenue generation is in most cases insufficient in purchasing enough food for the entire population in the states. The people in this region is consistently on the rise, a situation that puts stress on the current economy (Vanlauwe et al., 2015: 15101). The rates of unemployment for the youths remain high, and many households cannot afford food. These reasons increase poverty levels in the region which enhance hunger and famine. II) Poor Agricultural Practices The farming practices carried out in this region are poor and cannot supply enough for the growing population (Fan and Rosegrant, 2016: 54). People in the area practice subsistence farming which is aimed at the production of food for their family consumption. There are increased environmental problems such as soil erosion, desertification, and drought. The soils are characterized by infertility and insufficient water. These reasons make the productivity of the land to decrease. The subsistence farmers do not produce enough to feed themselves resulting in hunger and famine (Buhaug et al., 2015: 125015). Also, lack of technology in farming in this region results in reduced production. Farmers in the area do not have the necessary inputs such as fertilizers and water harvesting skills (Burney, Naylor, and Postel, 2013: 12515). For this reason, the crops are grown usually produce little harvests, and when the rains fail, the plants die. Also, many farmers in the region overstock livestock. This depletes the vegetation leading to acute soil erosion. The soils become bare and unproductive therefore unable to support agriculture. This has resulted in the nations in the sub-Saharan region to depend on food importation. However, due to poverty levels in the region, people cannot afford to buy adequate food. III) Poor Governance Many countries in the region are characterized by political instabilities. There is the occasional eruption of civil and political wars (Knox et al., 2012: 034032). This political instability results to the destruction of farms and people flee resulting in loss of farming time. Also, government policies put in place in the sub-Saharan regions do not alleviate poverty. There is an unequal distribution of economic resources of the national governments. Some parts of the area have been marginalized, and hunger is dominance in such zones. Furthermore, the governments in the region do not allocate adequate resources to the agricultural sector. There is pronounced misappropriation of the state funds where the states in this region prioritize other areas. This has disadvantaged the agricultural sectors, and hence it is unable to produce adequate food. The countries are also marked with high corruption rates. The national resources are concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority of the population live in poverty. IV) Environmental Challenges The major environmental problem in the sub-Saharan region is the climate change. This is a situation where the temperatures rise, and the rain pattern is affected. The region has been much affected by climate change (Müller et al., 2014: 2507; Ringler et al., 2010: 162). The rainfall patterns have varied, and this has resulted in reduced agricultural production (Milder and Scherr, 2016: 35). The region has been hit by lack of enough rain and desertification. The region receives little rain that is not well distributed over the growing season, and the high temperatures increase evaporation rates (Connolly and Smit, 2016: 385; Sheffield et al., 2014: 863). Due to this reason, the soils cannot support crops, and the yields decrease. With no proper agricultural technology, people in the region have been unable to produce enough food for their consumption. Government, Poverty, and Agriculture The government policies in a given country influence the poverty levels of the people. Creation of employment and distribution of national resources affect the economic power of individuals (Estache, Wodon, and Lomas, 2014: 55). Poor leadership result to poor decisions and misallocation of resources (Sahn, 2015: 13). These factors increase poverty levels. When the people are poor, they have no ability to apply the modern technology in agriculture. Poor farmers are unable to buy fertilizers and other farm implements, which results in poor agricultural production (Fosu, 2015: 50). In conclusion, governance creates or diminishes poverty which in turn has an influence on the agriculture. Recommendations This study recommends the following to eradicate the incidences of hunger and famine in the sub-Saharan Africa. • The governments in this region should put measures that will empower the people economically. Poverty eradication in the region is an appropriate way of ending hunger. The governments need to create employment opportunities for the people to increase their income so that they can afford food. • There is need to prioritize agriculture in this region and allocate adequate resources. The governments should ensure that the agricultural sector is equipped with the modern technology so that there will be increased productivity. • Agriculture in the sub-Saharan region needs to be modernized. Irrigation should be practiced in the dry areas. Crops that mature within short period need to be adopted. Water harvesting and storage practices need to be incorporated in farming. • Measures should be put in place to conserve soil. The vegetation cover should be protected to control erosion. Conclusion This paper investigated the primary causes of hunger and famine in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. As it was noted, hunger and starvation have been a chronic problem. People in this region are faced with inadequacy have no access to sufficient food and hence food insecurity. This results from some factors such as poverty, climate change, and poor agricultural practices. The study has recommended poverty eradication as a major step in alleviating hunger and famine. References Arndt, C., McKay, A. and Tarp, F. (2016) Growth and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Oxford University Press. Bain, L.E., Awah, P.K., Geraldine, N., Kindong, N.P., Siga, Y., Bernard, N. and Tanjeko, A.T. (2013) 'Malnutrition in Sub–Saharan Africa: burden, causes and prospects' Pan African Medical Journal, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-15. Bloom, D.E. and Chan, K. (2015) Higher education and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. International Higher Education. Buhaug, H., Benaminsen, T.A., Sjaastad, E. and Theisen, O.M. (2015) 'Climate variability, food production shocks, and violent conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa' Environmental Research Letters, 10(12), p.125015. Burney, J.A., Naylor, R.L. and Postel, S.L. (2013) 'The case for distributed irrigation as a development priority in sub-Saharan Africa' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(31), pp.12513-12517. Connolly, L. and Smit, B. (2016) 'Climate change, food security, and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa' Regional Environmental Change, 16(2), pp.385-399. Estache, A., Wodon, Q. and Lomas, K. (2014) Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer. Fan, S.A. and Rosegrant, M.W. (2016) Investing in agriculture to overcome the world food crisis and reduce poverty and hunger. International Food Policy Research Institute. Foli, R. and Béland, D. (2014) 'International Organizations and Ideas about Poverty in Sub‐Saharan Africa' Poverty & Public Policy, 6(1), pp.3-23. Fosu, A.K. (2015) 'Growth, inequality and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: recent progress in a global context' Oxford Development Studies, 43(1), pp.44-59. Knox, J., Hess, T., Daccache, A. and Wheeler, T. (2012) 'Climate change impacts on crop productivity in Africa and South Asia' Environmental Research Letters, 7(3), p.034032. McKay, A. and Thorbecke, E. (2015) Economic growth and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa: current and emerging issues. Oxford University Press. Milder, J.C., Majanen, T. and Scherr, S.J. (2016) Performance and potential of conservation agriculture for climate change adaptation and mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer. Minot, N. (2014) 'Food price volatility in sub-Saharan Africa: Has it really increased? ‘Food Policy, 45, pp.45-56. Müller, C., Waha, K., Bondeau, A. and Heinke, J. (2014) 'Hotspots of climate change impacts in sub‐Saharan Africa and implications for adaptation and development' Global change biology, 20(8), pp.2505-2517. Prakash, A. and Stigler, M. (2012) FAO statistical yearbook. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. Ringler, C., Zhu, T., Cai, X., Koo, J. and Wang, D. (2010) 'Climate change impacts on food security in sub-Saharan Africa' Insights from Comprehensive Climate Change Scenarios, 2(5), pp.157-165. Sahn, D.E. (2015) The fight against hunger and malnutrition: The role of food, agriculture, and targeted policies. OUP Oxford. Seo, S.N. (2014) ‘Evaluation of the Agro-Ecological Zone methods for the study of climate change with micro farming decisions in sub-Saharan Africa’ European Journal of Agronomy, 52, pp.157-165. Sheffield, J., Wood, E.F., Chaney, N., Guan, K., Sadri, S., Yuan, X., Olang, L., Amani, A., Ali, A., Demuth, S. and Ogallo, L., (2014) ‘A drought monitoring and forecasting system for sub-Sahara African water resources and food security’ Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95(6), pp.861-882. Thorbecke, E. (2013) ‘The interrelationship linking growth, inequality and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa’ Journal of African Economies, 22(1), pp.i15-i48. United Nations Development Program. (2012) Africa Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future. Available from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hdr/africa-human-development-report-2012/ Vanlauwe, B., Six, J., Sanginga, N. and Adesina, A.A. (2015) ‘Soil fertility decline at the base of rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa’ Nature plants, 1, p.15101. Von Grebmer, K., Bernstein, J., de Waal, A., Prasai, N., Yin, S. and Yohannes, Y. (2015) 2015 Global hunger index: Armed conflict and the challenge of hunger. Intl Food Policy Res Inst. World Hunger Education Service. (2015) World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics available from http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics/ Read More

Causes of Hunger and Famine in the Sub-Saharan Africa Food security is where all people in a country or a region can access sufficient food that can meet their dietary requirements for a healthy life (Seo, 2014: 160). In the sub-Saharan Africa, there exist food shortage. The available food is not sufficient to people, and the majority of the population cannot access enough food. As it has been identified, hunger and famine are chronic problems in the region (Bain, 2013: 6; Von Grebmer, 2015: 32).

Several factors are associated with the occurrence of these issues as discussed below. I) Poverty Poverty indicates the lack of economic power and ability to raise money to buy food. In the sub-Saharan region, almost half of the population below two dollars in a day. According to World Bank data, by 2012, 47% of the people in this region lived below $ 1.90 a day (Arndt, McKay, and Tarp, 2016: 32). This implies that people in this area have limited money to acquire sufficient food. Adequate nutrition provisions require enough resource allocation.

With the little income received by the households in this region, people cannot afford to purchase adequate food (Prakash and Stigler, 2012: 2). Also, the little income does not allow people to practice sustainable agriculture. In the region, people are not able to purchase the necessary farm inputs that could enable them to produce enough food. In most cases, the economic performance of the states in the region is poor. The governments rely on international donors and foreign governments for financial support (Bloom and Chan, 2015: 27).

This form of revenue generation is in most cases insufficient in purchasing enough food for the entire population in the states. The people in this region is consistently on the rise, a situation that puts stress on the current economy (Vanlauwe et al., 2015: 15101). The rates of unemployment for the youths remain high, and many households cannot afford food. These reasons increase poverty levels in the region which enhance hunger and famine. II) Poor Agricultural Practices The farming practices carried out in this region are poor and cannot supply enough for the growing population (Fan and Rosegrant, 2016: 54).

People in the area practice subsistence farming which is aimed at the production of food for their family consumption. There are increased environmental problems such as soil erosion, desertification, and drought. The soils are characterized by infertility and insufficient water. These reasons make the productivity of the land to decrease. The subsistence farmers do not produce enough to feed themselves resulting in hunger and famine (Buhaug et al., 2015: 125015). Also, lack of technology in farming in this region results in reduced production.

Farmers in the area do not have the necessary inputs such as fertilizers and water harvesting skills (Burney, Naylor, and Postel, 2013: 12515). For this reason, the crops are grown usually produce little harvests, and when the rains fail, the plants die. Also, many farmers in the region overstock livestock. This depletes the vegetation leading to acute soil erosion. The soils become bare and unproductive therefore unable to support agriculture. This has resulted in the nations in the sub-Saharan region to depend on food importation.

However, due to poverty levels in the region, people cannot afford to buy adequate food. III) Poor Governance Many countries in the region are characterized by political instabilities. There is the occasional eruption of civil and political wars (Knox et al., 2012: 034032). This political instability results to the destruction of farms and people flee resulting in loss of farming time. Also, government policies put in place in the sub-Saharan regions do not alleviate poverty. There is an unequal distribution of economic resources of the national governments.

Some parts of the area have been marginalized, and hunger is dominance in such zones. Furthermore, the governments in the region do not allocate adequate resources to the agricultural sector.

Read More