‘Food is the ultimate security need, new map shows.’
The article that I am writing this entry on is based on a new map of food security risks around the world. The author, Damian Carrington, starts the article by addressing the countries with the highest risk of food sec urity, which are the sub Saharan countries, like Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopea. These countries have been through devastating wars over the last few decades, which leaves the economy very low, makes food almost unaffordable. Also, because of the economy collapsing due to war, it means that the countries are unable to tackle problems caused by their hot and dry equatorial climate, like drought. The people have to migrate away to hopefully find a better life elsewhere, but that means leaving everything behind them.
Next the author tackles the topic of food security in Somalia, and the recent (recent when the article was published, in 2011. The prices for the most used foods, like maize and sorghum, were raised by 100% and 180% respectively. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the situations are the same, except for that all arable land has been taken by foreigners.
In India, although it has a booming population, there are still millions of people who are starving. There is a hugh inequality in the distribution of wealth, and it seems that you are either extremely rich, or extremely poor. There is no in-between. This can lead to huge problems in malnourishment of children, which leads to a high infant and child mortality rate. Spain and Portugal seem to be strange examples. They are both very rich nations, but they have a medium risk of food security problems. It seems that it is because Spain is hugely reliant on grain imports from other countries, importing 11billion kilograms of grain.
It seems from the article that conflict and food security are highly associated. If a country is involved in conflict which the economy funds, they wont be able to import food into the country or fix problems that don’t allow them go grow their own crops.
A line that really struck me was in Africa, ‘most people fear for their next meal, while the rich world has more to fear about obesity.’ It struck me, because why should obesity be a case when people are starving? We clearly have enough food to feed the entire world. but it’s just distributed extremely unevenly.
The article that I am writing this entry on is based on a new map of food security risks around the world. The author, Damian Carrington, starts the article by addressing the countries with the highest risk of food sec urity, which are the sub Saharan countries, like Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopea. These countries have been through devastating wars over the last few decades, which leaves the economy very low, makes food almost unaffordable. Also, because of the economy collapsing due to war, it means that the countries are unable to tackle problems caused by their hot and dry equatorial climate, like drought. The people have to migrate away to hopefully find a better life elsewhere, but that means leaving everything behind them.
Next the author tackles the topic of food security in Somalia, and the recent (recent when the article was published, in 2011. The prices for the most used foods, like maize and sorghum, were raised by 100% and 180% respectively. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the situations are the same, except for that all arable land has been taken by foreigners.
In India, although it has a booming population, there are still millions of people who are starving. There is a hugh inequality in the distribution of wealth, and it seems that you are either extremely rich, or extremely poor. There is no in-between. This can lead to huge problems in malnourishment of children, which leads to a high infant and child mortality rate. Spain and Portugal seem to be strange examples. They are both very rich nations, but they have a medium risk of food security problems. It seems that it is because Spain is hugely reliant on grain imports from other countries, importing 11billion kilograms of grain.
It seems from the article that conflict and food security are highly associated. If a country is involved in conflict which the economy funds, they wont be able to import food into the country or fix problems that don’t allow them go grow their own crops.
A line that really struck me was in Africa, ‘most people fear for their next meal, while the rich world has more to fear about obesity.’ It struck me, because why should obesity be a case when people are starving? We clearly have enough food to feed the entire world. but it’s just distributed extremely unevenly.