Starvation
How to cause hunger
IPN Opinion article
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation celebrated its annual World Food Day with the slogan 'The Right to Food.' But the FAO should have paid more attention to the rights that matter most for 'landless farmers, urban slum dwellersÖand the extremely poor'--the right to own and exchange property and the right to trade freely, both locally and internationally.
Overpopulation: Nothing to do with numbers
IPN Opinion article
Every generation has doomsayers who claim that the world is overpopulated -- usually with images of mass famine and starvation, generalized warfare and the decline and fall of civilizations. Long before the Reverend Malthus declared in the late 18th Century that the human population would inevitably increase faster than we could produce food to feed it -- resulting in wars, famine and pestilence -- the Greek philosopher Aristotle urged legislators to calculate and enforce a 'convenient number of citizens.'
Feeding People, Generating Income, Protecting the Environment: The Role of Agricultural Technologies
IPN Opinion article
Investment in agricultural research and development in the past few decades has helped to improve the lives of most Indians through enhanced and affordable food supply, boosted incomes for millions of our farmers, and reduced the incidence of famine and starvation despite massive population increases in the past few decades. Nevertheless, food insecurity and malnutrition still persists in India. The causes for poverty and hunger are varied and complex, but experts concur that sustainable agricultural development will be critical in meeting future food needs, reducing poverty and protecting the environment.
Hungry for Help
IPN Opinion article
While 13 million people are faced with death and starvation, the European Union is set to provide close to 130 million Euros to check the situation. Will the food aid improve the situation? In the short term it may. But the political disease that afflicts African countries will remain to plunge the populations in another catastrophe. In Swaziland, for example, the government purchased an executive jet for the King worth 28 million pounds. In Zimbabwe the government purchased state of the art Mercedes limousines for the ruling elites. The key concerns over the rule of law and good governance will be left unaffected.
