Why hunger is occurring: Natural
problems
Believe it or not, there's plenty of food to go around on this
planet. In fact, there's enough for every single person to have
about five pounds of food per day. So what's the
problem?
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Most of this food is produced in developed
nations, like the United States. For it to get to countries that
need it, there are huge expenses in packaging, transporting, and
distributing this food. A survey of all costs involved in producing
a loaf of bread and delivering it to a UK retail store found that
less than one third of energy was spent growing and milling the
wheat. Getting it to market, including packaging and transportation
accounted for almost all of the remaining two thirds of energy
needed.
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Machine packages
orange juice into bottles |
Reducing these costs should be simple: reduce or eliminate the
transportation costs. If food is produced closer to where it is
needed, costs are much lower. The dictionary (www.m-w.com) defines "arable" as: fit for or used
for the growing of crops. Arable land, therefore, is land that can
be used to produce food. Some countries have been thought to have
very little arable land. This could be for many reasons, including
the soil could be too hard, temperature could be too extreme, or
there might not be enough water in the area. Some say that the
amount of arable land is decreasing through processes like erosion.
One economist, Julian Simon, thinks otherwise:
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"The potential for creating new land has
increased as knowledge, machinery, and power sources have improved.
At one time, most of Europe could not be planted, because the soils
were 'too heavy.' When a plow that could farm the heavy soil was
invented, much of Eurpoe suddenly became arable in the eyes of the
people who lived there. Most of Ireland and New England were once
too hilly and stony for farming, but with effort the stones were
removed and the land became 'suitable for crops' […] In the
twentieth century, bulldozers and dynamite have cleared out stumps
that kept land from being plowed. And in the future, cheap
transportation and desalination may transform what are now deserts
into arable lands. The definition of 'arable' changes as technology
develops and the demand for land rises. Hence any calculation of
'arable' land should be seen for what it is - a rough estimate
without permanent force."
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New land is being made available through continually developing
technologies. Sometimes, then, the problem is that the land is not
being used efficiently enough. Food production per hectare has
soared in the last fifty years. More countries are beginning to use
fertilizers.
Asian Farmer in paddy
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Some methods of food production are more
efficient than others naturally. Beef production takes about 10 to
20 calories of energy (fuel, feed, etc.) to produce 1 calorie of
food. (Some groups, such as VEGFAM, believe
that vegetarianism is a solution to world hunger.) Typical US corn
production takes about 1 calorie of energy (fuel, fertilizer, etc.)
to produce 1 calorie of food. Dry-land Asian rice culture averages
using 1 calorie of energy (human labor) to produce 20 calories of
food. The range of efficiency here is clear.
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When food can be produced in greater quantities more
efficiently in areas geographically closer to where it is needed,
costs for this food are reduced. When food costs less, more people
can buy sufficient amounts to feed themselves and their
families.
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