Too much food.. too little distribution

After reading “The Scarcity Fallacy” by Stephen Scanlan, J. Craig Jenkins and Lindsay Peterson, the reader becomes clarified about the erroneous belief that world hunger is rooted in a lack of food supply, as first suggested from Thomas Malthus’ classic 1978 book “An Essay on the Principle of Population”. As a matter of fact, there is more than enough food available in the world today to feed its inhabitants. Rather, the true culprit of world hunger lies in the unjust social dynamics which determine how food is distributed.

The authors argue there are 4 main social components which are to blame for this famine: poverty, inequality, conflict and corruption. Firstly, there is a strong correlation between poverty and hunger, emphasized by the fact that countries which suffer most severely from poverty also have the highest child hunger rates. With increasing food costs, due to the supermarket revolution, and less income to spend due to job losses, people are unable to afford adequate nutrition to feed themselves and require the assistance of food banks. Inequality is also an issue where people become deprived of food based on their gender, race, or ethnicity, particularly women who are disproportionately likely to suffer from hunger despite composing the majority of the agriculture workforce. Corruption and conflict are also tearing the food distribution system apart due to the fact that food is either used as a political weapon or delivered to those in “less need” of assistance rather than those most desperate. In order to combat these flaws, the authors suggest a host of possible responses which include encouraging local food production, instead of relying on industrialized farming, and empowering competition among local farmers. In addition, governments need to tackle this problem right at its roots by confronting social issues within their respective societies. By ensuring women and minorities are protected by better policies and mandating food as a fundamental human right, world hunger would be greatly alleviated. Only through the elimination of social injustices may the development of production capabilities by effective.

In my opinion, it is just such a shame that humans are unable to realize the extent to which their fellow inhabitants are in desperate need of help; whenever large amounts of money is involved, there is always some form of corruption. I feel that there needs to be a greater emphasis on educating citizens about the myth that there is an inadequate amount of food in the world because until people are more aware about the truth, that social dynamics are the cause, they will continue to throw money/food right into the wrong arms. Government policies and attention need to be less directed at developing faster, more evolutionarily-fit crops and instead, should be spent on ensuring food is cheaper and more accessible to those in need. As a matter of fact, although this may be slightly off topic, a main reason why obesity is such a prominent issue in the US is because the poor do not have access to nutritious food or are unable to afford them – studies have shown that the poor usually reside in neighborhoods filled with convenience stores instead of markets or supermarkets, which influences them to consume junk food accordingly. Thus, it can be seen that the problem of hunger, and even obesity, lies in the flaws of the social construction of society. Creating more jobs and encouraging education are possible solutions which could address poverty, violence and obesity issues.

In addition, I feel that it would be somewhat helpful if food banks all merged into one major organization, which ensures all food distribution is efficient and organized. With smaller, independent food banks, the distribution might be inefficient due to the lack of resources as well as the fact that there is a higher chance of corruption and deception.

Questions which I have regarding this topic include:
- What are some possible policies which can be drafted to reduce social inequalities in relation with food availability?
- Would a transition to a more “socialist” society, instead of a “capitalist” society, alleviate the food distribution system? What are some setbacks of such a transition on food?
- What are some environmental effects on food hunger i.e. does global warming play any role?