The Global Hunger Crisis

Majda Bne Saad

Description

For billions across the world, the daily challenge is to find enough to eat to survive. Hunger is on the rise globally with more than 1.2 billion people suffering from food insecurity and poverty and rising food prices increasingly jeopardising access to food. But what are the causes for global hunger? And as the global population soars, what are the key food challenges?



In this deeply informative study, Majda Bne Saad identifies the causes for global hunger which are embedded in the current economic system, apportioning blame for global hunger on the West's continuing support for and subsidies to biofuels, which have created persistent and formidable new demands for food commodities. Saad proposes we fight-back, arguing for a 'second green revolution' to grow more food and by analysing the factors constraining low-income nations from achieving food security, she considers policies which could generate income and enhance individuals' entitlement to food.



Preface

Acknowledgements

Part I: Food Security And Insecurity: Causes And Consequences

1. Food Security

2. Famine

3. The World Food System: Challenges And Options

4. Peasants Farming: Current And Future Challenges

Part II: Challenges And Options To Food Security

5. Access To Land

6. Rural Labour Markets

7. Rural Financial Services And The Issue Of Sustainability

8. Water For Livelihoods

9. Gender And Food Security: Invisibility Revisited

10. Conclusion: Food Security In Perspective

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• África
• Development studies
• General officer
• South
• Food
• Development
• General
• Agriculture
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 06 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849648615
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

The Global Hunger Crisis

First published 2013 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Majda Bne Saad 2013
The right of Majda Bne Saad to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3068 6 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3067 9 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 8496 4860 8 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 8496 4862 2 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 8496 4861 5 EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd
Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and
Edwards Bros in the United States of America
To Zaid, Haider, Noah and Jacob
Contents

Illustrations
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Preface
Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I FOOD SECURITY AND INSECURITY: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

1 Food Security


What is Food Security?
What is Food Insecurity?
Measuring Chronic Food Insecurity
Transitory Food Insecurity
Domestic Food Prices
Household Purchasing Power

2 Famine


Famine Mortality 1903–2011
Defining Famine
Operational Definition of Famine
Theories of Famine
Pre-modern Theories: Supply-side Factors
Modern Theories: Demand-side Factors
Postmodern Theory: The Failure of Accountability

3 The World Food System: Challenges and Options


What is the World Food System?
The Productionist Paradigm
The Life Sciences Integrated Paradigm
The Ecologically Integrated Paradigm

4 Peasant Farming: Current and Future Challenges


The Peasants’ World
Defining ‘Peasant’ and Peasant Societies
World Capitalism and Agrarian Change
Peasants and the Three Worlds of Agriculture
Agricultural Contribution to Economic Development
Investment and Economic Incentives for Agricultural Growth
Agricultural Policies in Agriculture-based Developing Countries
Peasant Farming: Constraints and Challenges

PART II CHALLENGES AND OPTIONS FOR FOOD SECURITY

5 Access to Land


Pressure for Land Reform
Instruments of State-Led Land Reform
Market-Led Agrarian Reform (MLAR)
Steps towards Successful Land Reform
Gender and Land Reform
Land Grabbing: A New Challenge

6 Rural Labour Markets


Rural Labour Markets: An Overview
The Economics of the Household Labour Allocation Model
Factors Affecting Labour Supply
Factors Affecting Demand for Labour
Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment

7 Rural Financial Services and the Issue of Sustainability


Rural Credit Markets
Credit for Agricultural Development and Poverty Reduction
The Evolution of Rural Credit Markets
Do Microfinance Institutions Help the Poor?
Second Generation MFIs
Non-Governmental Development Organisations and MFIs: The Dilemmas
The Sustainability of Microfinance Operations
Gender and Credit Policy
MFIs and the Global Financial Crisis

8 Water for Livelihoods


World Waters: An Overview
Shared Water Resources: The Political and Legal Dimensions
State Cooperation
Water for Livelihoods: Social, Economic and Environmental Constraints
The Environmental Costs of Intensive and Extensive Farming
Choices in Irrigation Technology: Shaping the Future
Governance in Irrigation Systems
Irrigation Policy and Gender
Irrigation in a Resource-poor Environment

9 Gender and Food Security: Invisibility Revisited


Invisible Rural Women
Data Deficiencies: Maintaining Rural Women Invisibility
The Feminisation of Agriculture
Rural Women’s Participation in Decision Making
Policy Approaches to Women in Development
Gender Mainstreaming
Gender and the Millennium Development Goals
Gender and Food Security: Policy Implications
Rural Women’s Voice

10 Conclusion: Food Security in Perspective


Economic and Agricultural Growth in Africa
Net Food Importing Countries and World Trade
Aid to Agriculture
Future Challenges (1): Climate Change
Future Challenges (2): Biofuels
Conclusion

Appendix: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations

TABLES


1.1 Prevalence of undernourishment and daily energy supply (DES) in world regions
1.2 A classification of chronically food insecure people by geographic location
2.1 Estimated mortality figures in major twentieth- and early twenty-first-century famines
2.2 Intensity scale
2.3 Intensity and magnitude scales with examples of classifications
2.4 Evolution of famine thinking
3.1 Features of the productionist paradigm (PP)
3.2 Features of the ecologically integrated paradigm
4.1 Rural populations 1951–2030: absolute numbers and percentages of population, globally and by region
4.2 Demographic and economic characteristics of three developing country types, 2005
4.3 Public spending on agriculture in three country categories
6.1 Men’s and women’s shares in overall employment by sector, 1997 and 2007
6.2 World population and percentage of rural population 2007–2050
6.3 Numbers, percentages, growth rates and arable land per head of agricultural population in developing countries
6.4 Examples of the two-way links between agriculture and social protection
7.1 Steps to achieving sustainability of microfinance institutions and services
8.1 Impacts of secure access to irrigation water on poverty and vulnerability in rural areas
BOXES


1.1 Measuring chronic undernutrition for individuals
1.2 Measuring nutritional status at national level
3.1 Major limitations of the productionist paradigm
3.2 LSIP and genetically modified organisms: features and benefits
3.3 Key limitations of the LSIP and GMO
3.4 A new method of rice production in Madagascar
4.1 Comparison of farming conditions in industrialised and developing countries
DIAGRAMS


1.1 Conditions of food and nutrition security
1.2 Conceptual frameworks for nutritional status at household level
Abbreviations and Acronyms

ADB
Asian Development Bank
AoA
Agreement on Agriculture
AMCEN
African Ministerial Conference on the Environment
AMS
Aggregate Measure of Support
BMI
body mass index
BMR
base metabolic rate
BRAC
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
CAP
Common Agricultural Policy
CGAP
Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest
CIDA
Canadian International Development Agency
CMR
crude mortality rate
CTE
consumer tax equivalent
CUTS
Consumer Unity and Trust Society
DAWN
Development Alternative with Women in a New Era
DNA
deoxyribo nucleic acid
rDNA
recombinant DNA
DPPC
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission
EALA
East African Legislative Assembly
EC
European Commission
ECPUTW
Economic Convention on Protection and use of Transboundary Water Resources and International Lakes
EEC
exchange entitlement collapse
EIP
ecologically integrated paradigm
ESCWA
UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia
EU
European Union
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAD
food availability decline
FED
food entitlement decline
EWS
early warning system
G8
Group of Eight
GAD
gender and development
GATT
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GB
Grameen Bank
GDP
gross domestic product
GFC
global financial crisis
GHG
greenhouse gas
GM
gender mainstreaming
GMO
genetically modified organism
GNI
gross national incomes
GP
general practitioner
GR
Green Revolution
HIV/AIDS
human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome
HYV
high yielding variety seeds
IAASTD
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
IATRC
International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium
IIED
Institute for Environment and Development
ICT
information communication technology
IDA
iron deficiency anemia
IDD
iodine deficiency disorder
IFAD
International Fund for Agricultural Development
IATRC
International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium
IFC
International Financial Corporation
IFIs
international financial institutions
IFPRI
International Food Policy Research Institute
IMF
International Monetary Fund
IPM
integrated pest management
IRBM
integrated river basin management
IWRM
integrated water resources management
LSIP
life sciences integrated paradigm
MC
marketing cooperative
MDGs
Millennium Development Goals
MFI
microfinance institution
MIS
management information systems
MLAR
market-led agrarian reform
MUAC
mid-upper arm circumference
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement
NFIDCs
net food importing developing countries
NGDOs
non-governmental development organisations
NGOs
non-governmental organisations
NPS
non product specific
NRA
nominal rate of assistance
ODA
official development assistance
ODI
Overseas Development Institute
OECD
Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development
PCM
protein-calorie malnutrition
PEM
protein-energy malnutrition
PP
productionist paradigm
RNA
rural non-farm activities
RRA
relative rate of assistance
SADC
Southern Arica Development Community
SAPs
structural adjustment programmes
SIDA
Swedish International Cooperation Agency
SMEs
small- and medium-sized enterprises
SRI
system of rice intensification
TRQs
tariff-rate quotas
UN
United Nations
UNCED
United Nations Conference on Environme