Famines

Sources:

The World Food Problem (2009, Leathers and Foster)

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

Irish Potato Famine

• 1845-1849 potato blight• 1 million died of starvation

– 1.5 million emigrated

• Ireland a colony of England– Exported wheat and beef to England– Peasants had small plots of potatoes

• Famine: wheat and beef still exported– Peasants did not own the land– Starved in the midst of plenty

• They did not own

• Europe also had blight but starvation only in Ireland– British policieshttp://www.gormanfamilytree.com/images/famine2.jpg

British Army enforced food export during Irish potato famine

http://www.irishholocaust.org/1024-map.gif/1024-map-full.jpg

Great Famine, India 1876-8

• India a British Colony• British policies:

– Land converted to British plantations– Exports of crops to Europe– Taxed India to support British wars– Price of food rose

• Drought decreased production• British response:

– Inaction, discouraged famine relief• Thought to be too expensive• Thought relief would encourage

shirking of Indian workers• Result: 5 million starved to death

http://www.sott.net/signs/images/indian_family.jpg

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Famine-in-India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378

Colonial Economic System

Empire

Colonies

Wealth, Taxes

Conquest

Food, Resources

People Most Vulnerable to Famine

• Poor rural people: crop failure– Small scale farmers

– Unemployed tenant farmers

– Landless agriculture workers

– Conquered nations

• 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

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/images/migrated/MultimediaFiles/Live/Image/4422.jpg

Sub-Saharan Africa (Sahel)

• Recurring Famines 70s, 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 cropshttp://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/famine.jpg

Conflicts in Africa

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 relocatedhttp://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: Genocide

• Crop production dropped– economy collapsed

Rwanda refugees

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fel9bt89f5XY/610x.jpg

http://www.robrogers.com/cartoons/2005/images/030305%20Hotel%20Rwanda.gif

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

Refugees in Darfur, Sudan

Conflicts and Poverty

http://www.cybertext.net.au/student07_inet__may/otherConferences/Poverty_conflict_map.jpg

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 weaponEthiopia 1980

http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/images/nwaz_02_img0201.jpg

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

http://www.gnosticliberationfront.com/Image14.jpg

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

Government

IdeologyEconomy

Great Leap Forward Famine

Collective Farms

Totalitarian

Communism

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 pricesLiberia refugee children

http://www.americanphotojournalist.com/News/145-8.jpg