Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Global Food Crisis
Global Food Crisis
Chuan QIN
Jiancheng SHEN (Jackson)
Sirirat Sakonlaphan (Jan)
Xiaolin SHI (Lynn)
Yi WANG (Rebecca)
Course: INAU101, Globalization
and International Affairs
Instructor: Chris
Chanyasulkit
July 25, 2009
Abstract
Food
is the most important need in human’s life. While the world is facing the some
serious problems such as global economic crisis, but global food crisis also
exist in the world and it becomes cannot be avoid. This research paper mentions
that three most important point that can occur the global food crisis, that are
food shortage, food price and food safety. Also it gives some solutions that can
reduce the global food crisis from the United Nations, World Bank and some
other main organizations in the world.
Global Food Crisis
Introduction
In
recent years, more and more problems in the world is coming such as global
economic crisis, global warming and global food crisis, these all can affect
human’s life. But the most important point is global food crisis. Because food
it the most important thing in the world. Especially last year, the food riot
happened in Haiti, “which killed an estimated 800 people and caused vast damage
in 2008” (New York Times, 2009). It became the most serious problem in the world;
because it killed a lot of people, and people were fight with each other just
for do not feel hunger. The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in opening remarks at
press conference mentioned that “We do not see many references these days to
the food crisis in the news. It has been eclipsed by economic fears. But we are
still not out of the woods. I call it our forgotten crisis- because it has not
gone away” (2009). Basically Ban Ki-moon is saying that global food crisis is
not disappearing in the world, there may be not many reports are about food
crisis but there still existing in the world. Although the whole world is
facing and struggling with the global economic crisis and global food crisis,
it is necessary that facing the global food crisis all the time because food
and agriculture is the most important point for human’s life.
1.
Background of global
food crisis
Based on the technology’s
development, agriculture productivity becomes more advantage. The world food
can suffice the human’s need, but some places still have problems, such as they
cannot grow, they do not have enough money to buy food. According to United
Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, “Target: Halve, between 1990 and 2015,
the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day” (2009). In other
words, it is saying that the world is still having food problems, such as not
everyone have enough food to eat. Also the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report mentioned that
“At 1,020 million, for the first time in human history, more than one million
people are undernourished worldwide. This is about 100 million more than last
year and around one-sixth of all humanity” (FAO report, 2009). That is saying
that lots of people in the world is still facing the food crisis. Basically
food is the most easily thing that can be effect by the other issues. After the
World War II, the world is becoming more peaceful, everything
in the world is becoming peaceful. But recent years, global economic, global
warming and wars all of these big issues affect the global food crisis. Global
economic crisis is the most important issue that can affect global food. Poor
people become poorer than before, they do not have enough money to buy food,
and the best example is the last year food riot happened in Haiti. Also the
world is becoming warmer than before, global warming takes many changes about
the weather. Such as in 2008 the snow storm happened in China, almost the
plants grew in south China were died. So it is necessary to talk about how
global food crisis and how can the world facing the crisis correctly and how to
solve the problems.
The
world food situation is more serious than before. Food shortage, food price and
food safety, these three points are the most important issue in food crisis. There
is a cycle around these three points. Firstly, food shortage and food price.
Food shortage can affect food price directly, there are not enough food for
people to eat, so the price in the food market will be increase, because the
business company want earn more money. Once the fames know the price is
increase, farmers will continue grow the plants. After several years, the food
will be too much for the food market the price will goes down, so famers will
stop to grow it and then the food shortage will happened again, and the price
will increase, this cycle will continue to grow. Secondly, the food shortage
and food safety. Once the food shortage
happened, If a food company does not have
enough food to hold the food market, this company cannot get enough food to
continue own the market, the company has to find something to instead it. Such
as make some junk food. Also, some diseases can affect food safety, such as
bird flu and swine flu. Thirdly, food price and food safety. When the food
price goes up the market will have less food than before. A company who want
own the market will find some the other food to instead. So in the other hand, the
advantage technology can help them to find the other way to own the market.
When they use the advantage technology to make some food such as McDonald’s is
cheaper than the other food, the price will goes down. When the price goes up,
and the company cannot find the food to instead on time, so they have to use
the advantage technology to make the new food to renew the market. So it is
necessary to worry about the food safety, in developed country the government
did a good job, but in developing country especially in Africa food safety is
not the biggest issue in their society. For example, last year the Sanlu milk happened
in China. It was one of the biggest milk company in China, but because the food
safety it was shut down in last year. And it took a big influence in China.
The
first issue in global food crisis is food shortage; it is the key of food
crisis. Because it can affect people’s life directly, food shortage means that
people do not have enough food to eat. So food shortage is a very serious
problem, for many people in many parts of the world.
2.
Food Shortage
Food shortage is a very serious
problem, for many people in many parts of the world. “Food shortage occurs when
food supplies within a bounded region do not provide the energy and nutrients
needed by that region's opulation.”( Messer&DeRose, 1998, P1) There are two
kinds of food shortages. The most direct is an acute shortage, examples are
famine or when sharp price increases occur. The other
is
called a chronic shortage, that will last over a long period of time. (Robert W. Herdt, 2004, Para. 4) Forty countries in
the world are facing food emergencies and require external assistance (Buerkle,
2006, Par.1,). Nearly a billion people go hungry each day(Love ,
2008, Par.2), therefore food shortage is worldwide concern. Food shortages is
something that everyone should be concerned about.
2.1.Acute food shortage and chronic food shortage.
Acute food shortage
also know as famine, causes massive devastation and death. All thoughout
history, famine is an unavoidable problem. In 2004 acute food shortage was a
serious problem for millions of people in NorthKorea, Sudan, Iraq, Zimbabwe,
and several other countries.
Chronic food shortage is a daily problem for undeveloped poor countries.
This problem is created because there are too many people and not enough food
for them.This kind of shortage is very dangerous because it can last for many
years, and if it occurs on a global level, wars and civil unrests will threaten
our daily life.
Large areas with chronic food shortage are more prone to
experience a direct acute food shortage, causing an emergency situation.
2.2. Trend in Food shortage
Most wealthy countries will never experience wide spread
food shortage. Actually, in recent times, these countries have experienced an
overabundance of food. On the other hand, in poor and underdeveloped countries,
food shortage is an everyday part of their life which brings along a shorter
lifespan.
2.2.1.
Long-term Food
Trend
3.
Bairoch (1988) indicated before the middle of the 19th century 80 percent
or more of people in
today’s wealthy
developed countries were farmers. (as cited in Robert W. Herdt, 2004, Para. 15) Food shortage has occurred in various
countries thoughout history. A sad example would be India which experienced 14
famines over a period of 6 centuries. Even in as far north as Finland, the
country suffered severe famine in 1696-1697. A very famous food shortage
occurred in Ireland beginning in the year 1845 and has been called “The great
Irish potato famine”. Over a period of 6 years, one million people perished,
and another million were forced to flee to other countries. (Gavin, P., 2000, P3 ).
3.1.1.
Recent Trend
In the past fifty
years, the world has doubled its population, however the food resources did not
follow this trend. Estimates from FAO (2001) show that 842 million people were
undernourished worldwide in 1999–2001. These staggering statistics directly
correlate between the drastic increase of the numbers of people born into the
world and the lack of food to sustain them all.
During the last fifty
years, the Grain Production per person dropped 50%. According to Brown, from 2001 to 2008, grain
consumption exceeded production. After seven years of drawing down stocks,
world grain carryover stocks in 2008 have fallen to 55 days of world
consumption, the lowest on record. (2008, Para. 19)
3.2.Causes of food shortage
Many factors can create food
shortage, and there are three main types, which are environmental, social and
cultural, and finally political and economic.
Environmental Factors: Our ever changing global climate has a very direct
effect on food production. Severe weather patterns and changes affect
temperature and moisture. These changes will affect plant growth and incur
damages from pests and pathogens.
The quality of soil structure and its fertility are
dire for food production. According to NAS (1986), many tropical soils contain
less nitrogen and phosphorus, have lower capacity to absorbe fertilizers, and
therefore have lower coventional productive ability, but some tropical soils
(most notably in the Amazon) have been very intensively farmed and further
intensification is possible in other areas. ( as cited in Messer & DeRose,
1998, P 20)
Natural disasters such as flood, earthquake,
volcanic eruption and drought, will damage all the plants and food in a region.
For example in 1783 a volcano erupted in Iceland and the toxic fumes killed
many livestock animals and vegetation. More recently, the Changjiang flood in
1998, and the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 almost damaged all of the farms in the
those areas.
The current crisis referred to as global warming,
could create food shortages for more than half of the world’s population. The
EL Nino weather system has cause the worst drought in the history of Papua New
Guinea. (Christianity Today, 1997, Para. 1)
Food
shortage is a supply and demand problem, there simply is not enough food to
accomadate people’s needs. Despite new technologies that are developed, which
farmers use to produce food, the demand for the food is at all time high. For
example, in Africa, the increased food production can not
keep pace with the growing
population. Chronic
hunger is concentrated in Africa. Sixteen out of the 20 countries where more
than 35 percent of the population was undernourished are in Africa.(FAO, 2001)
The current global financial crisis also negatively
impacts food production. Oxfam reports that the global financial crisis has
pushed an extra 119 million people into hunger. Charities and the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization fear that governments will cut food and agriculture
aid to cover the huge sums they are spending to rescue failing banks. (Love,
2008, Para. 6) On an inspirational note, Live Aid took place on July 13th,
1985. Several musical artists from around the world formed a famine relief
effort to aid in the Ethiopian hunger crisis. With four hundred million people
watching this concert, it raised $283.6 million for relief aid.
Political and Economic Factors: An increase in food prices may cause food shortage.
With rapid food price increase, poor people will be the most susceptible to the
food shortage. For example, in Africa, sone of the poorest farmers can not even
afford to buy seeds. (Love, 2008, Para. 8)
The hunger is a matter of distribution. There is
plenty of food in the world but it just is not getting to those who need it.
(Times, 1998). There are surpluses in North America and Europe. Even in
food-short countries like India, where large amounts of grain are in storage
due to government intervention, many still go hungry. (Robert W. Herdt, 2004,
P.509)
3.3.The food shortage in Africa, Asia
“Kenya
confronts food shortages”
An unbelievable 10 million Kenyans endure food
shortage. This crisis has been blamed bad weather conditions and political and
social unrest within the country. In support of the people, the Catholic
bishops have pleded with the government to provide food-for-work programs. (Nairobi,
2009)
In this report from Americanmagazine, this
wide spread and chronic food shortage is tearing Africa apart. Constant wars
and poverty lead to a nonprogressive society. This epidemic occurs in Zambia,
Congo and other African countries.
“South Asia hit by food shortages”
In Pakistan, the price of flour went up, causing panic. In Afghanistan, a
serious wheat shortage occurred, while in Bangladesh, rice rations became
scarce. In each of these situation, the country appealed for foreign aid to
help them.
The news is from the BBC on 9
January 2008. In South
East Asia, the population is exploding, while the food production is not. Also
the unstable governments and the matter of food distribution worsen the
scenario.
As everyone can see, food shortage is a global
problem which affects many people in different places of the world. This
problem has plagued humans throughout history. One must look at all of the
factors involved, some can be changed, some can not.
Food
shortage can cause other problems, such as wars, civil unrest, poverty.
According to Diouf J announcement, at present, there are 815 million people
worldwide suffer from chronic food shortage (FAO, 2002). And in 2007, only one
year in Africa, the number of hungry people increased by about 50 million (FAO,
2007). So it will be dangerous for the whole world, and the people must pay
attention. Also food shortage can influence food price directly, it there has
enough food, the prices are stable. But if there has not enough food, the
prices will go up. Food price goes up, the poor people cannot buy enough food
to eat, and it will be occurred the war. So food price is another problem for
global food crisis.
4.
Food Price
4.1.What is the global food crisis on price?
The price on food is increased to a large extent which results in a
series of negative effects such as poverty, hunger, diseases, war and etc.
According to an article in CRS (Catholic Relief Services) website states that “In the last decade the
price of the most basic foodstuffs traded on international
markets has increased sharply in every region of the world. For example,
the price of wheat has doubled in less than a year, while other staples such as
corn and soy are trading at prices well above their 1990s levels. Rice, which
is the staple food for about three billion people worldwide, has tripled in
price in the last 18 months, and in some countries, prices for milk and meat
have more than doubled.” (A catholic campaign against global poverty: commonly
asked questions: global food crisis (n.d.). Retrieved June 20th, 2009, from http://www.archdpdx.org/justice_and_peace/crs-food-crisis-faqs.pdf). The prices trend of three major commodities in the year 2000 to April
2008 from the source: International
Monetary Fund is as following chart:
|
From
this chart in the left, we can see that the price trend of major
commodities was gradually increasing year by year. And especially the price
of maize and rice skyrocketed amazingly since the end of 2007 to the year
2008.
|
And also, as the CRS
pointed that: “the food price will go on with increasing until 2015 when the
food price will probably tend to be steady. And therefore the food price crisis
will be a long term issue.”
4.2.Cause of food price
What is causing the global food crisis? Two
aspects can be used to elaborate the reasons why the price of food is growing
at a very fast speed. The first one is the imbalance on the relationship
between the supply and the demand. And the second one is the government’s
regulation lead to the persistent high price on food.
The imbalance on the
relationship between the supply and the demand embodies the following two
perspectives: the demand is increasing and the shortage of the food supply. For
the demand: the huge demand embodies the increasing global population which is
attributed to the global fertility trends. There are some useful data in the
article “Global Population Growth: The Numbers and What They
Mean”(n.d.). (Retrieved June 25th, 2009, from http://www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/globalnumbers.pdf) states that“Globally, average fertility
rates have fallen since the early 1950s from about 5 births per woman to the
current rate of 2.8 births…. Even though this decrease in the average global
fertility rate, global population continue to grow at a rate of 1.3 per year….
In absolute number, we add approximately 77 million people to the planet every
year.” From this statistics, we can
easily find that along with the high rate of population increase, the demand
for food definitely become more and more.
The second point for the
imbalance of the demand and supply relationship is about the lack of the demand
which refers to the following two aspects: the first one is global warming:
when people entered the 1980’s, the issue of global warming became more severe
than it has in the past. We all know that global warming causes a series of
problems. Such as: it will lead to relocate the raining distribution which can
result in more droughts and floods. Moreover, more and more natural disaster
will follow
next such as the hurricane and tsunami. Along with
the more natural disaster happens, poor harvests and weak credit follow
accordingly. Consequently, global warming leads to the shortage of the food
supply. The second one is about the bio-fuels are more popular than the
traditional food nowadays. The bio-fuels refer to the fuel- ethanol and bio- kerosene
which are produced by the biology resources especially those food such as
maize. Due to those fuel-ethanol and bio-kerosene can substitute the ethanol
and kerosene,
and the more
importantly, the badly needed for the fuel globally, the price of those plants
which can produce the bio-fuels is much higher than those which cannot get the
bio-fuels. And therefore, more and more farmers prefer to plant those kinds of
the food which can produce the bio-fuels such as corps, soy beans and canes. As
a result, the food for people to eat is fewer and fewer. This is another reason
for the food shortage of the supply.
As to the point that the government’s
regulation can also lead to the higher food price, due to the high demand for
the food, many countries such as China decided to cancel the regulation about
tax reimbursement for export. Likewise, more and more countries’ governments
raise the price of those foods which can produce the bio-fuels in order to
encourage their farmers to those kinds of plants to gain more income.
4.3.The
impact for the global food price crisis
Generally speaking, the most damaging
impact is on the poorest people, who spend a far higher proportion of their
income on food. In many cases, households were spending 40 to 50 percent of
their incomes on food before the crisis and are now finding it increasingly
difficult to afford basic rations. Those who are struggling to pay for food
will eat less or cheaper food with less nutritional value. Even the middle
class in many developing nations will have to sell their assets to pay for
food.
For
Africa, as the World Bank organization states: “Countries in West Africa, the Horn of Africa, and fragile African states
recovering from conflict are especially vulnerable to higher global food prices.
In West Africa, rice accounts for a much larger share of food consumption than
in Eastern and Southern Africa. As more rice than maize is imported, local food
prices in West Africa will be more affected. Countries with local supply
disruptions are also particularly vulnerable to global price increases, as
experience
with the drought in Burkina Faso, the recent cyclone in Madagascar, and
localized floods in Ghana have shown. Less local supply means more reliance on
imports to meet domestic demand -- imports which are now much more costly.
Within these countries, the poor will be especially vulnerable as they often
spend as much as half their disposable income on food.” (“the Effect of High
Food Prices in Africa” (2008) Retrieved
from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21753440~menuPK:258657~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:258644,00.html).
For the Middle East, for
example, “In Yemen, prices for wheat and wheat products doubled in one year,
and they might have already increased national poverty by 6 percentage points.
If no action is taken, this could fully reverse the gains in poverty reduction
between 1998 and 2005.” (“Food Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa”
(2008) Retrieved from
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/MENAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21840570~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:256299,00.html).
For
South Asia: taking India for instance, “The continuing increase in world food
prices has brought agriculture productivity in focus. From March 2007 to March
2008 the overall food price inflation in India was around 6 percent. However,
in the past two years domestic prices of wheat and
rice have increased by 30 percent and 35 percent
respectively (in US dollar terms). In the short run, India has managed to
partially insulate consumers from high world food prices with combined effects
of a comfortable supply situation, an appreciating exchange rate and
restrictions on grain trade. However, a number of signs suggest that new
challenges lie ahead” (“India, A New
Way of Cultivating Rice” (2008) Retrieved
fromhttp://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21789689~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:223547,00.html).
When the food price goes up and down, the
food in the market will be limit. Once the price goes increase and it does not
have enough food to eat, people who own the market have to find something to
instead. So from this point, if the company does not care the quality of the
new products it has to be some food safety problems.
5. Food safety
Food
safety refers to the extent to which food is safe to eat. It contains
information about Food-borne Illness, Food Contaminants, Food manufacture
Safety, Retail Food Protection, Safe Storage and Food Preparation. Sometimes
Food Safety is confused with the term “Food Security”. Food security is the
extent to which food is available. It also means food can be bought at
affordable price. According to the economic and civilization development of the
whole world, it seems that food safety has no longer been a serious problem
which imperils human’s life. But while you begin to look at the food safety in
the whole world and be care about what happen in the whole world, you will find
out easily that the food safety has already become a global issue although it
is a little different between the developing country and the developed country.
In
developing country, food safety control system has to be improved and be
equipped to prevent food-born illness and protect food retail, the use of the
pesticide and fertilizer in agriculture should be monitored while in the
developed country, it is becoming difficult to control the use of new
biotechnology in food field and the safety of food imported from other
countries. Moreover, eating habit related the fast food, government ability of
implements and the food safety regulation are all the factors that impact the
food safety in both developing and developed country.
Here
are few examples of food safety concerns in the world.
Brindle
said, “The emergence of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, and the
deaths of more than 300 people from this virus, mainly in South-East Asia, has
only added to that sense of foreboding”(2008, NEWS, pg. 24).
Barboza
reported, “Powdered milk formula in China tainted by melamine, a chemical
compound, has already sickened more than 53,000 infants and killed three children
nationwide, according to the Health Ministry...” (2008).
Food
and Drug Administration published the news, “On March 23, 2009, the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration asked Irvington, N.J.-based Westco Fruit and Nut Co.,
Inc. (Westco/Westcott) to voluntarily recall all of its products containing
peanuts from PCA because of the contamination threat” ( 2009).Until then,
Salmonella outbreak over 43 states in USA.
From
bird flu to swine flu which maybe are the worst food-borne illness in the
world, from Sudan red accident to taint milk scandal which is the most famous
enterprise bankrupt event caused by food safety in China, from McDonald’s
disappear in recent years to peanuts recall which have already threatened 43
states in U.S., Food Safety’s alarm screamed all over the world constantly.
Since the
Globalization, there are more and more
communication between each country. Every event happening in one country will mostly
affect other countries. Food safety problem is more and more becoming a global
crisis, “Schafer used to say: Globalization has resulted in more
inter-dependent food systems, so we must all work together to protect
consumers” (“US agriculture secretary”, 2008).
What
on earth is the food safety include?
Generally,
there are several main food safety problems disturbing people’s normal life.
The first four of them, account to the dependence of government’s or global
organizations’ effort while the last one is depends on people having a good
food habit. Regular daily food safety problem: Regular daily food safety
problem exist in the produce process, supply chain, and distribute link:
Regular daily food things are bits and pieces, so it is difficult and complicated
for government to make sure of it’s safety especially in large population and
developing country. But in another hand, regular daily food is close to human’s
life. As a manager of country, government has to guarantee his people to enjoy
the safety daily food. Developed country have done better job than developing
country in recent years, but there is still the severe event occurred in recent
month, such as salmonella of peanut outbreak originally caused by the PCA’s
sanitation system of production equipment. There are several risks exist during
the safety control of daily food as below:
a.
Risk in production process: While processor produced the product, the original
material safety control, production equipment’s sanitation, the worker’s
health, the food storage before it is delivered to distributor , are all vital
factors for the safety of the product. The taint milk produced by Sanlu plant
in China, peanuts which caused Salmonella outbreak produced by PCA are all
examples of food safety violations in the production process.
b.
Risk in supply chain: Oversea trade has become more frequent due to the
Globalization, food supply chain goes beyond the national boundaries, but food
traceability does not come along with it. It is the new task for global
organizations to work out the regulations and detailed pattern as a rule for
every country so that the Food safety control in the global supply chain become
possible.
c.
Risk in distributing: Distributor is the most close station to consumer while
the food is approaching to end user, so they act as a very important role
during the Food safety control. The restaurants, the retailers should take the
most responsibility of the cause of bird flu, swine flu and hogwash oil event
of lotus center in China. Food additives and contaminants: Due to the chemical
technology development, almost every make-up food contain additives. Additives
problem has already been brought up by every health organization, but it seems
that people are too weak to say no to additives since additives have been so popular.
Sudan red event is a typical example, “The impact of the Sudan red controversy
shows how vital it is for the food industry to ensure that effective
traceability systems are put in place” (Anthony, 2006).
Pesticide
pollution: Pesticide has been overused in developing country especially in
large population country since they have to meet the huge demand of agriculture
food with help of chemical technology. According to Shi, “Organ chlorine
pesticides (OCPs) were predominantly used in Chinese agriculture in the 1960s
and 1970s, largely because of their high effect, low acute toxicity, and
price…it has caused serious environmental pollution in China, especially
because OCPs are highly bioaccumulative and persistent substances…in this study
suggested that the OCPs, even in micro and trace amounts in the environment,
can cause a significant adverse impact on human health through long-term
bioaccumulation”(2006).
Bio-technology
food: Bio-technology food has already been argued if it is a really food: GMOs
is the new word in this field which refers to Genetically Modified Organisms.
It is a young technology but popular concept in the modern time, so that most
governments have no idea of how to face and manage these new things while it
has been put into the shelf of supermarket gradually. Mehta pointed out that
consumers cannot believe Food safety system because there is not enough safety
measure has been done in place to make sure the safety of GMOs . Government do
not have enough ability to control the application of techno-science of
Agri-biotechnology in food. Food safety regulations seemed to be expired
(p.60,61).
Fast
food: Sahud reported that About one third of US children in 203-2004 aged 2 to
19 years were overweight or at risk of being overweight in, so overweight now
was the most familiar medical condition of childhood. Obesity increasingly was
popular among black and Hispanic children,
this overweight epidemic was popular mainly because children like to eat
Fast Food , 30% to 50% of children consumed Fast Food on any given day, and
children consume more 420 to
525KJ(100-125 kcal) when they had Fast Food than when they do not. (2006,
pg1,2). Mcdonald’s has been disappearing these years in U.S. since people in developed
country have began to concerned with healthy eating habits. That‘s a good
phenomenon for human to pay more attention about the body than time saving and
work pressure. But in developing country, Fast Food such as Mcdonald’s and KFC
are becoming more and more popular. You even can see them in every corner in
some of big cities in most of the developing country.
Food
safety is becoming global. Fortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) has
held a meeting in Beijing to draw a Declaration on Food Safety so that all
counties can work together to solve
the Food Safety issue. “It’s the first time
that we have countries getting together and saying, ‘let’s recognize that it’s
a joint responsibility and we should work together to improve it’ Jorgen
Schlundt, Geneva-based executive director of the WHO’s Food Safety Department
told China daily’s reporters”(2007). Government is concerned with this problem
headed by the developed country such as USA. Smith reported that Food safety
legislation will be priority in 2009, and government will support enough money
for it while there was $42 million to $49 million owes in last several years
(2008, p.1).
6.
The solution of global food crisis
According to food shortage, food price, and
food safety, most people around the world are concerned about how they can help
themselves and others to solve and pass these problems together.
The first solution that people applied many
years ago is genetic modification (GM). As the article Genetically Modified
Foods and Organisms has explained, GM is a technology that changes genetic
arrangement of organisms in animals, plants, or bacteria. GM can be called in a
general team as Biotechnology but it includes the change of genetic arrangement
of organism of plants and animals that their some parts can be used to produce
wine, cheese, beer, and yogurt (Genomics Energy Government, 2008, para. 1). From
the definition of genetic modification (GM), most agriculture industries
realize that if they choose to grow plants which are modified genes, their
plants will be strong and gain high qualities. Moreover, according to the
article, it has noted that cultivated produces which are genetic modified are
increased taste, qualities by enhancing nutrition and stress tolerance. They
are also strong to resist to diseases, pests, and herbicides (Genomics Energy
Government, 2008, para. 8). Due to the advantages of GM in aspect of the
resistance to environment and an increase in quality, genetic modification is
still a good solution to solve the problem of food shortage in nowadays. Even
though
people realize that there are some
disadvantages when they use it, in some places genetic modification (GM) is
only one way out at this time. This is because the faster population increases
around the world, the more food required in each country especially in poor
countries such as Africa.
Note.
The graph adopted from “The World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision
Population Database”, by Population Division of the Department of Economic and
Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, 2009, World Population
Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database. Retrieved June 19, 2009,
from http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp (population’s unit: millions)
From
the world population prospects 2008 by United Nations, the graph as above shows
that the population around the world will increase every five year. Therefore,
genetic modification can be a good solution which responds to this problem
faster than other solutions.
Then, if agriculture industries can grow
a large amounts of plants within short time than before, people will have
enough food to consume. Besides, because of a increase in food shortage,
problems from food prices will be decreased as well. When a decrease in gaps
between demand and supply, food
prices
will decline because people will not be limited the amount of food that they
can buy.
The next soltion is an increase in a supply
chain technology. Eddie has contended that if companies use a supply chain
technolgy between each other, people in each area will not fear to face food
shortage. For example, when Wal-Mart
and Kroger have traded goods between each other, they can reduce food shortage
if people need to consume those products at that time. Moreover, this
technology will help companies save cost of spoil food and opportunity cost
when people ask them to buy products (Eddie, 2008, p. 1). Even though this solution
may cover in small areas, it can help to reduce fear that can occur if people
realize that they can buy food as usual. Furthermore, this new technology may
be usual if companies apply to local stores. For example, Chinese companies may
trade their goods from cities to countryside. This is because areas which have
a problem of food shortage in china are in country sides. Therefore, if they
trade between two different places, this problem may decrease.
From the problem of food shortage, it can lead
to an increase in food prices so people cannot afford it especially people in
developing countries. For example, people who live in African farmers face
problems that they cannot grow plants very well because of drought which lead
to their crops are very expensive for people in the area. According to Alex,
the effective solution is to help farmers to manage their water systems and
have good fertilizers and drought-resistant seeds (Alex, 2008, p. 1). When African
farmers gain enough knowledge and technologies to improve their lands, they
will have abilities to produce more crops than before so these crops may help
decrease some problems such as food prices
and food shortages in areas.
Moreover,
there are a lot of organizations which pay attention to solve the problem of
global food crisis. For example, the UN General Assembly established the United
Nations Commission on
Sustainable Development (CSD) in 1992. The
purpose is to make sure that United Nations Conference on Environment (UNCED)
is effective which is known as Earth Summit. Now, there is a CSD-17 session
which is the Policy Session of the third implementation cycle that focuses on
Africa, agriculture, drought & desertification, land, and rural
development. CSD gives Africa to be a priority area for the United Nations’
activities. The important strategies that are installed in this country are to
integrate markets for goods and services, building cross-border infrastructure,
developing new crop varieties and other agricultural technologies for African
growing conditions such as managing shared water and other natural resources,
tackling trans-boundary pollution, and addressing climate change, including
through adaptation. CSD also pay attention on agriculture development in
developing countries through CSD-8 since 1999 by inviting the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the CSD secretariat in
order to generate solutions. From CSD-8, there is the promotion of Sustainable
Agriculture & Rural Development which is to maintain and improve
agriculture land in order to be ready for grow plants to support an increase in
population in the future. Also, this framework helps farmers ensure that they
have enough water for sustainable food productions (United Nations, 2009, p.
1).
All
of frameworks that CSD created are very helpful especially in developing
countries. This is because it is a good way to solve problems from main causes
which people can keep sustainable in long run.
Now,
there is an organization named United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
which
created 2008 U.S. farm bill. According to
Johnson, “The
Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-246, “2008 farm bill”) is the most recent omnibus farm bill. It was enacted into
law on June 18, 2008, and succeeded the 2002 farm
bill. The farm bill governs federal farm and food policy, covering a
wide range of programs
and provisions, and, as noted above, undergoes review and renewal roughly every five years. The 2008 farm bill
contains 15 titles encompassing commodity price and
income supports, farm credit, trade, agricultural conservation, research, rural development, energy, and foreign and
domestic food programs such as food stamps and other nutrition programs, among
other programs” (Johnson, 2008). In other words, Johnson explained that 2008 is an act that uses to control federal farms
and food policies which are about food price, agriculture, food quality, and
food trading in today’s world. This 2008 U.S. Farm Bill will brings a lot of
benefits to people to solve a lot of problems such as increasing the quality of
food and water, doing research about food market. United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) described about the plan of Farm Bill Accomplishment that
they plan to add funds into the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP)
in order to help farmer to solve problems about natural resources. Moreover,
the organization has a plan for rural development to improve the quality of
food and water by making sure that all of them are clean for people who love
rural America. Also, they are concerned about the nutrition of food by adding
into nutrition programs named Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
to make sure that food is good enough for people and low-income people have
abilities to buy good food for their health. Furthermore, the Farm Bill has
plans to do a lot of activities such as doing a research and marketing and
credit programs (United States Department of Agriculture, 2008). All plans in
the 2008 U.S. Farm Bill can help people in many ways to lift their qualities of
lives. Also, it does help farmers and ranchers can manage their small business
smoothly in long term because they have a
good support from USDA.
Conclusion
All
in all, from food shortage, food price and food safety, the food crisis in the
world is still a big
issue for the people. Population is goes up
and economic goes up and down, global warming is still continue, so all of
these issues can push global food crisis becoming more serious. The United
Nations Millennium Development Goals gives a good example that how can people
face the food issue. Reduce the poverty and hunger is the first goal of the
MDGs, it is necessary for the whole world to notice that global food crisis
cannot be ignored, the world still have lots of people goes hunger.
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