Famines

1. Famines Sources: The World Food Problem (2009, Leathers and Foster) World Hunger 12 Myths (1998, Lappe, Collins, and Rossett)

2. 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 policies http://www.gormanfamilytree.com/images/famine2.jpg

3. British Army enforced food export during Irish potato famine http://www.irishholocaust.org/1024-map.gif/1024-map-full.jpg

4. 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876%E2%80%9378 http://www.sott.net/signs/images/indian_family.jpg http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Famine-in-India

5. Colonial Economic System Empire Conquest Wealth, Taxes Food, Resources Colonies

6. 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 prices http://www.sonic.net/~evolve/wp/human_ecology/sudan_famine_7.jpg

7. 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

8. 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 crops http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/famine.jpg

9. Conflicts in Africa

10. 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 relocated http://i.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1987/1101871221_400.jpg

11. 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

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

13. 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 Refugees in Darfur, Sudan http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php

14. Conflicts and Poverty http://www.cybertext.net.au/student07_inet__may/otherConferences/Poverty_conflict_map.jpg

15. 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 weapon Ethiopia 1980 http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/images/nwaz_02_img0201.jpg

16. 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

17. 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 died Propaganda Poster http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/ChinaLinks-New/Images-ChinaLinks1-07/glf.jpg

18. Great Leap Forward Famine Government Totalitarian Economy Ideology Collective Farms Communism

19. 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

20. 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 prices Liberia refugee children http://www.americanphotojournalist.com/News/145-8.jpg