Hunger Analysis
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Hunger Analysis
Jehiel Baer
GVPT309B
More than 854 million people across the world go hungry. Almost 1 billion people live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day. (Bread.org) Yet, at the same time the United States produces 25.9 million tons of food waste every year, amounting to about 1.3 pounds of wasted food per person, per day. (Islandwood.org) These figures are not only atrocious, but embarrassing on the part of America and the developed world. However, the truth is that the feeling of embarrassment is not nearly as strong as the draw of potential profit on the part of major corporations. While we have the resources, capital, and ability allow for sustainable farming throughout even the most underdeveloped countries, or at least to produce enough food to meet the world’s basic needs, we find that agribusiness still remains just a business, and with it the paradigm that the only concerns that are worthy of note are those of the company shareholders. Unfortunately, the profits used to satiate the desires of the corporate heads are found in the exploitation of third-world peasant farmers and the monopolization of food production capability through seed mongering.
With the onset of the globalized free market, we have entered an era where trade flows almost as freely as weather patterns. The outcome of the removal of trade barriers can be seen in both a growth in national GDP around the globe, but also through the continuous expansion of the gap between the wealthy and the unfortunate. Agribusiness is no different. A lack of trade barriers is nothing short of a welcome sign for the exploitation of a country. While the ideals are credible — free commerce leads to interdependence and increased communication, resulting in greater public welfare and peace throughout — the reality is that the playing field is not leveled, and the MNCs dominate the game. As illustrated in the documentary, The Business of Hunger, it starts with a developing country seeking to improve its national wealth. The idea of having a successful MNC bringing business into the country is very alluring, though falsely so. In response to corporate requests, the government lowers its tariffs and trade barriers. The MNCs then see, not a nation with whom they can do business, but rather a pool of resources which they can reap for their business back home. Before too long, companies like Del Monte, Dole, and others are forcefully buying up land from the peasant farmers for their international production. Ironically, with all the food that is being produced through the efficient, mechanization of farming, none of the food remains in the country. Instead, it is shipped out where it can be sold for much higher prices.
This exploitation of resources, though it is a problem in and of itself, is not the sole detriment the country and its people experience. The land that was taken from the peasants had been used to produce primarily staple, high yield foods such as grains, rice, beans, and potatoes. In their place, the companies produce high return cash crops such as tropical fruits, soy beans, and peanuts. This diminishes the supply of basic foods and pushes their prices up to a level where the large majority of families cannot afford them. Those that are able to keep their land initially find that they cannot compete with subsidized imports from developed countries, and eventually are forced to give up or sell their land as well. Unfortunately, the land that has been taken is being cultivated primarily by machines, forcing many of the local workers out of jobs and incomes. All of this would be bad enough, if it were not for the added ecological problems that ensue. Fertilizers and herbicides destroy the ecosystem, and cause harmful health risks to local inhabitants. The working of the land is strenuous, and quickly depletes the environments’ nutrients, often times leaving the land arid and barren.
The exploitation of the Global South’s resources is not the only thing keeping millions of people from having enough to eat. Food production is being attacked at its source: the seed. According to the educational film The Future of Food, the “Green Revolution” — the agricultural advances through the uses of pesticides and herbicides — was initially intended to be the solution to world hunger. Instead, however, it has been turned into yet another business scheme, aimed a making profits through the monopolization of seeds. The use of pesticides and herbicides caused an agricultural addiction, forcing farmers to continue to spray