A recent article on ProgressiveU.org points out a main factor in world hunger, the destruction of food:
If all food produced worldwide every year was counted, there would be enough to feed double the world’s current population. So why is it that 36 million people die of malnutrition every year? World hunger is a vast and complex problem and no single action or practice can be pinpointed as the true cause. Similarly, no single solution exists to solve the issue in its entirety. However, ending the practice of destroying food products with the intent of increasing prices would be a crucial step in ending global malnutrition.
The act of destroying or withholding crops in order to drive up prices has occurred since the Great Depression, during which 257 million bushels of grain were stockpiled in order to raise prices. Today, the United Nations reports that many governments and corporations commonly destroy food to create an artificial scarcity. For example, in the United Kingdom, 17 million tons of food are plowed into landfills every year – more than five times the amount needed to feed the three million starving people in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Laws of Supply and Demand, as the supply decreases and the demand remains stable, prices must increase, thus allowing corporations to amass a significantly higher profit when a portion of crops are destroyed. However, this practice is unacceptable when one in every seven people globally suffers from malnutrion.
The article also explains the cycle of poverty:
A critical issue that must be faced when addressing world hunger is the cycle of poverty in which many become entrapped. Starvation is a trap in and of itself. According to the World Hunger Education Service (9/9/06), malnutrition causes poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, and thus leads to even greater poverty by reducing a person’s ability to work. Simply, when an individual is starving, he cannot maintain a job and support himself or family. Without a job, he makes no money to buy food, in turn, further deteriorating his health and ability to work.
I agree. And, with so many people getting stuck in this horrible cycle of poverty, I find it disgusting that corporations and governments would destroy food just to increase profits.
What do you think?
The corporations probably do not destroy food unless it is “defective” or otherwise not able to be sold. Governments are the culprits, trying to favor special interests by controlling the food supply. Milk prices, for example, are set by government boards, and surplus milk is destroyed. Sugar prices are supported, not to benefit consumers, but to benefit a handfull of agribusiness sugar beet growers and to encourage the use of corn syrup, since we have a surplus of subsidized corn. Politicians want power and re-election. Humanitartian issues are irrelevant to them.