Food and famine: the land

Pre-reading

With your partner try to decide whether the following statements are true or false. Guess! Then see if you were right by quickly scanning the text.

1. The demand for food in the world has increased very much during the last 40 years.

2. In the last 10 years food productivity has risen.

3. There is still plenty of land available for cultivation.

4. World population is rising by 93 million every year.

5. In the next few years there will be enough food in the world.

6. A quarter of all children in developing countries are near to starvation.

7. A bigger demand for hamburgers in the 1970s and ’80s has meant that Third World farmers started to produce food for cattle.

8. Eating meat is sensible for people in all countries of the world.

9. The production of meat requires the same amount of land as the pro­duction of cereals or vegetables.

10. Two thirds of all the grain produced in the world is used to feed animals on farms.

Man has been growing crops for 10,000 years. Until about 1960, increased demand for food was met simply by using more land to grow crops. As the population grew, farmers extended the area of land that they cultivated. From 1960 to 1980, increased demand for food was met mainly by increasing the productivity of the land. Farmers used techniques such as irrigation (which brings water to dry soil), terracing (which allows cultivation on steep hill­sides), and fallowing (where fields lie uncultivated on alternate years to re­plenish the soil) to grow crops on previously unproductive land. The 1960s and 70s were also the decades of so-called "miracle strains" of rice and other staple crops, which produced a much higher yield per hectare. The availability of cheap nitrogen fertilizer also helped to increase productivity between 1960 and 1980. Fifteen years ago, we were becoming complacent about our ability to feed the world’s population. But over the past 10 years, food productivity has reached a plateau, and has even begun to fall. There is little new land available for cultivation. High-yield strains of rice and cereals have already replaced standard strains in most places. The promise of even more efficient strains through genetic engineering has not yet been fulfilled, and scientists are increasingly pessimistic about whether further improve­ments are possible. In some cases, increases in productivity have been a false economy. Continuous cropping of cereals reduces the quality of the soil and increases soil erosion. The world is losing millions of tons of topsoil every year through intensive farming methods. The productivity of these exhausted soils will soon begin to fall.

A crisis is looming. Over the past 40 years, world demand for food has tripled. World population is still rising at a rate of 93 million people every year. But food production cannot increase indefinitely. Per capita grain pro­duction reached a peak in 1985 and is now declining. In 1987, world re­serves of grain were sufficient to last for 101 days; by 1989 they would only last 54 days. The "grain mountains" of surplus cereals produced by high- technology farming in Western Europe will be a short-lived phenomenon. In the next few years, demand for food will exceed supply. Many countries in the world are already desperately short of food. For years, countries such as Sudan and Ethiopia have fluctuated between meager subsistence and overt famine. Three factors can push a country into famine: drought, civil war and pestilence (such as a plague of locusts). But these things are not the causes of the food shortage, since they cause famine only when food reserves are al­ready at a critically low level. Children with severe malnutrition — the star­vation diseases marasmus and kwashiorkor — are uncommon even in the poorest countries. But mild nutritional deficiency is very common. A quarter of all children in the developing world suffer from mild to moderate malnu­trition. Fifty to seventy percent have mild vitamin В deficiency. These chil­dren are teetering on the edge of starvation.

The food shortage in the Third World has been aggravated by the change in land use from subsistence farming to the production of cash crops for export. A few entrepreneurs take over large areas of land and drive the small peasant farmers out of business. Money comes into the country, but it does not create wealth for the people who need it. It goes into the pockets of a few business people. In an export-led Third World economy, the rich usually get richer while the poor get closer to starvation. The rich nations' love of meat has led directly to malnutrition and environmental damage in the Third World. In the 1970s and '80s, the demand for cheap beef increased as the U.S. hamburger industry grew. Many Third World farmers started producing cattle feed instead of grain for human consumption. In the poorest countries of the world, where the local population could barely get enough to eat, valuable farmland was used to fat­ten cows for export. (A further tragic consequence of the demand for cheap beef was the destruction of rainforests). In most countries, eating dead animals is a symbol of a civilized and sophisticated lifestyle. People in rich countries eat meat two or three times a day, and many people in poor countries wish they could do the same. Meat is considered a "quality" food. But in reality it is an inefficient way to feed the population. Animals only convert one-tenth of what they eat into protein, so the production of meat requires much more land than the production of cereals, soya beans or other vegetables for human consump­tion. Two-thirds of all the grain produced in the world goes to feed livestock. A change in people’s attitude to food, so that meat ceases to be a status symbol, could reduce meat consumption significantly. Millions of hectares of land would be freed for more productive use.

Western countries, which have contributed greatly to the food shortage in the Third World, like to offer "food aid" to the poorer countries. They send huge quantities of grain to countries where there is overt or imminent famine. But food aid sometimes brings more problems than it solves. Dis­tributing the food, and converting it to a form that can be eaten, can pose major problems. The surplus of wheat flour in Europe and North America is no use to a country devastated by famine and civil war. The people do not have the transportation system to distribute the flour or the tools to make it into bread. Dried skimmed milk, which is a by-product of the butter industry, is a useful and nutritious food. But it must first be mixed with vegeta­ble oil to make a balanced meal, otherwise it will not be absorbed by under­nourished children. In the past, sacks of dried skimmed milk dumped at the frontier of a starving country have become as hard as concrete while waiting for supplies of oil to mix with the milk. Badly-planned food aid programs are a waste of time and resources. There is another reason why food aid is becom­ing unpopular. It is, at best, a short-term strategy for dealing with an emer­gency. It can stifle the initiative of the local people and create a culture of dependency. It does nothing to solve the long-term shortage of food.

There are no easy solutions to the world food crisis. But three strategies will help to ease the problem. First, population growth must be controlled . Second, the short-term economic gains of intensive farming must be sacri­ficed and replaced with conservation-oriented methods that replenish the soil and improve long-term productivity. Third, we must encourage the peo­ple in developing countries to become self-sufficient in food production. This will be difficult because the economies of these countries are now heav­ily dependent on their cash crops. Business people will say that changing back to small-scale subsistence farming will be a step backward. Consumers in the rich countries, who now enjoy the luxury of cheap cash crops from the Third World, may protest. But if we care about feeding the world's poor, we must be prepared to change our own greedy lifestyles rather than simply dumping our surplus food on populations who cannot use it.

EXERCISES

Section A Summary Writing

The final paragraph summarizes the essential points of this chap­ter. This paragraph is given below with some blanks. Replace the blanks with a suitable preposition and write out the paragraph. Fi­nally check your answers with the text.

There are no easy solutions the world food crisis, but three

strategies will help to ease the problem. First, population must be control­led. Second, the short-term economic gains intensive farming

must be sacrificed and replaced conservation-oriented meth­ods that replenish the soil and improve long-term productivity. Third, we

must encourage the people developing countries to become self-

sufficient food production. This will be difficult because the

economies these countries are now heavily dependent their cash crops. Business people will say that chain­ing back small-scale subsistence fanning will be a step back­ward. Consumers the rich countries, who now enjoy the

luxury cheap cash crops from Third World, may protest. If,

however, we care feeding the world’s poor, we must be pre­pared to change our own greedy lifestyle rather than simply dumping our surplus food populations who cannot use it.

Section В Discussion Work

How do you feel about eating meat? Organize a class debate on the subject with two speakers/or the motion and two speakers against it. The title of the motion could be that ’’people should stop eating meat.”