Food inequality has many factors that influence why people in developing countries suffer with hunger and starvation due to the west. One of these is poverty which results in the population being unable to gain adequate access to enough food to feed themselves and their family. The reason behind this has varying factors such as trade prices as if the demand for a certain product cannot be made by one producer for a set price then the west will simply go elsewhere to find the product at the right price leaving the producer in a worse position than they were in previously due to poor trade prices (Davis, 2001).
Another factor which contributes greatly to food inequality is conflict and war which destroys the agricultural infrastructure and land the farmers have worked so hard to produce much needed food on. The process of war uses food as a weapon especially in developing countries where neighbouring countries and even those in the same country turning against each other in order to gain more food supplies. Between 1993 and 2003 35% of food emergencies in the world were down to war and conflict so aid had to be provided to ensure the population of the war torn areas did not all starve. The food inequality problem continues long after the war or conflict has stopped as the population of the affected country returns, where they find that they have no support from the leaders of their country as the infrastructure is destroyed so it takes many years for the country to return to some sort of normality (World Food, 2006).
Another major influence in developing countries problems with food shortages is HIV/AIDS which is a huge problem in the developing world although rates are dropping in more recent times due to education and increased healthcare it still poses a huge problem. This is down to skills being lost in family groups by people dying due to HIV/AIDS and being unable to pass these skills on to the children of the family so they in turn are unable to adequately provide food for the family as they simply don’t have the skills to do so. The medical implication also takes money away from what could be spent on improved infrastructure and farmland to increase economic value which would then increase food availability. The way in which the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic affects food security and malnutrition obviously depends on how the affected make their livelihoods as if the families are solely based on labour intensive activities such as agriculture then they are going to struggle immensely with the loss of man power on the land which puts them into a vicious circle of activity. The intervention needed to prevent skills being lost and food security being affected is a tough decision that needs to be made whether to care for the sick and dying or to improve education and support for those survivors which would then slow down the spread of the disease giving the country a fighting chance of recovery (Food Security, 2001)
A solution to the trade problem experienced by farmers in developing countries is the fair trade scheme which guarantees a fair price for produce to the farmer and helps equalise the access to food by giving the farmers economic value. Fairtrade has helped transform the lives of millions of farmers by bringing together producers, businesses, communities and individuals campaign for a fairer trade system with the countries who consume the majority of the produce. Fairtrade has found that around two billion people a third of the population have to survive on less than two dollars a day with unfair trade prices being blamed for keeping these people in poverty even though they also have to deal with the global climate changes and increased food shortages (Fairtrade Foundation, 2009).
Food inequality and insecurity is a particular problem in the African nations where despite increasing healthcare improvements the population still remains vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition. This is due to food not being distributed evenly throughout each country especially in the developing world where those inhabitants that struggle on a very low income have trouble buying and even gaining access to suitable food for themselves and their families (Hong, 2006, p.371).
In Ghana for instance even though an economic growth has occurred in the last 10 years food insecurity and malnutrition amongst the countries children is some of the worst in the world with more than 45% of the country being classed as extremely poor, resulting in malnutrition being the highest cause of mortality in childhood. The United Nations is trying to address this problem and sees it as part of the millennium goal number which aims to eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries. This is a vital contribution to combating the problem that exists in developing countries as healthcare improves and life expectancy increases the more food these countries are going to need access to (Dowler, 2008, p.760).
There are many solutions that can be taken into consideration for the problem that food inequality and security poses for the developing world another possible solution other than that of fairtrade is the possible introduction of genetically modified crops which would be capable of growing in harsh climates and poor soil. This could solve hunger problems in developing countries in a very short space of time as once the correct seeds are sourced then they will grow and flourish very quickly giving the producers a crop to take to market and also crops to sustain the local area. Although this would be a quick fix it would also provide a sustainable market for the country of origin over time but there are also downsides to genetic crops. There are a lot of doubts about long term value of GM crops as not enough is known about the long term damage the crops could do to an area of land. The natural crops in surrounding areas could be affected by cross breeding from the GM crops so they do need careful consideration before they are undertaken and rolled out on a huge scale to developing countries (World Food Organisation, 2006).
Overall there are many reasons for global food inequality and distribution that has been a problem for many years but with the intervention of IMF developing countries are receiving help in combating this problem which has affected them ever since trade routes were set up by the western countries. The problem is improving with lower levels of malnutrition and hunger being reported and increasing economic levels in developing countries the level of food inequality is getting better. Although the world food summit set a target to reduce the amount of undernourished in the world by half by 2015 the target will be missed despite all the aid and help provided so it just shows the scale of the problem in the world but over time the problem is improving it will just take more time.
WORD COUNT 1490
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dowler, Elizabeth(2008) 'Food and health inequalities: the challenge for sustaining just consumption', Local Environment, 13: 8, 759 — 772
Hong, R(2006) Effect of Economic Inequality On Chronic Childhood Nutrition In Ghana, Public Health Nutrition: 10(4), 371–378
Kruse, A. (1966) Terms of trade and the developing countries, Intereconomics, Vol 1, No 9, 16-17
World Food Organisation, 2001, Assessing Nutritional Status and Vulnerability, Vol 1, 12-29
World Food Organisation, 2006, The Impact Of HIV/AIDS On Food Security, Vol 6, 23-26
Accessed on 12th February 2010
Accessed on 15th February 2010
