Increasing agricultural production alone does not alleviate hunger.
The amount of grain produced in the world in1999 could by itself sustain 8b, 2b more than the population. Total food production is estimated to provide each human being with at least 3500 calories per day. Many Bangladeshis starved during the 1974 floods, 4million tons of rice produced in that country were stacked in warehouses for want of buyers; the people were too poor to buy.
In the Kenyan chapter, 10million are starving while grains are being exported to
All these figures will never bring put food on the table for the poor. The issue of hunger, it appears is not lack of food but lack of entitlement to food. Those lacking the ready cash to buy food or the resources to produce it themselves seem destined for hunger no matter what miracles agricultural technology provides. Irrigation increases productivity in dry areas but is only viable for those with the resources.
The world’s nations will need to deal with issues of equity and democracy first if hunger is ever to be effectively addressed.
No Agriculture can continue to feed a growing population if it depletes or fouls its resource base. The path undertaken by conventional agriculture is ultimately a dead and in this regard, though there is an almost mystical faith that Genetic Engineering and other complex technologies will always triumph. Agriculture needs to be sustainable. Therefore we who promote organic agriculture as a true alternative are well advised to do our part in ensuring that certification and regulations do not create a compliance agriculture in which sustainability becomes little more than an afterthought.
