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Children of War
Children of War
Hunger: Myths and Reality
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Myth One:
There is not enough food and not enough land.


Untrue. Measured globally, there is enough to feed everyone. For example there is enough grain being produced today to provide everybody in the world with enough protein and about 3000 calories a day, which is what the average American consumes. But the world's food supply is not evenly distributed.

Myth Two:
There are too many people to feed.


Contrary to popular belief, overpopulation is not the cause of hunger. It's usually the other way around: hunger is one of the real causes of overpopulation. The more children a poor family has the more likely some will survive to work in the fields or in the city to add to the family's small income and, later, to care for the parents in their old age. All this points to the disease that is at the root of both hunger and overpopulation: The powerlessness of people who must rely on food that is grown and distributed by wealthy people who have never felt hunger pangs, yet who determine how the land will be used, if at all and who will benefit from its fruits. High birth rates are symptoms of the failures of a social system - inadequate family income, inadequate nutrition and health care and old-age security.


Myth Three:
Growing more food will mean less hunger in poor countries.


But it doesn't seem to work that way. "More food" is what the last 30 years' War on Hunger has been about. Farming methods have been "modernized", ambitious irrigation plans carried out, "miracle" seeds, new pesticides, fertilizers and machinery have become available. But who has come out better off?

Myth Four:
Hunger is contest between rich countries and poor countries.


Rich or poor, we are all part of the same global food system which is gradually coming under the control of a few huge corporations. These giant businesses grow and market food for the benefit of those people who have money which means primarily people in North American and Europe.

Myth Five:
Hunger can be solved by redistributing the food to the hungry.


True. Adapting a simpler lifestyle helps us to understand our interrelatedness with all people and less wastefulness is better stewardship. But neither" one less hamburger a week". Nor massive food aid programs, will eventually solve widespread starvation and poverty in the poorest nation. People will only cease to be poor when they control the means of providing and /or producing food for themselves.

Myth Six:
A strong military defense provides a secure environment in which people can prosper.


But who feels secure on and empty stomach? The extraordinary investment the world makes in armaments annually (currently $900 billion) ensures that few funds are available for agricultural and economic development and shows that those who decide how a nation's money is spent are not intimately acquainted with the violence of hunger.


Source: Rehydration Project

January 21, 2008 | 7:36 PM Comments  1 comments

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nassimben benosman nassim
January 22, 2008 | 10:49 AM

I agree with you and i believe that the real cause of Hunger is the injustice;
Thank you Inga ,and welcome back
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