Scarcity - Food

        Human, the creature of God will never stop from having the desire to possess things they want and need no matter in which century. Human want something more than they need, which might be superfluous. As we all know, needs and wants are infinite. We will request for more even though we already had sufficient goods we need. Yet, human’s infinite needs cannot be fulfilled due to the limited resources we have on earth. But still, we will progressively decrease until being used up no matter how many resources are there. In economics studies, we stated this condition as Scarcity. It is a concept of the tension between unlimited wants and needs of people as well as the limited resources.  This is the basic economic problem which arises due to the limited resources we have. And so, choice have to be made in order to fulfill human’s want and need as people cannot get everything as they want with the limitation of resources. Let us imagine as if scarcity does not exist or being use in the economic and society, people will not have the freedom to make choices as everything was free. In this case, trade-offs among human’s needs and wants would not happen. Thus, economy would not exist without scarcity.

The graph of food scarcity

       Food, is one of the substances that plays an important role on all of us. It is vital in everyone’s life and essential for survival. It is a substance consumed by all of us to provide nutrition for our body in order to have our body metabolize and grow, maintaining proper health as well as helps in prevention and recovery of diseases. Food is usually made of plant or animal origin which contains essential nutrients for human growth. It can be found everywhere, but why does it still scarce? Why the worldwide food crisis still happening? As we can see from the news, there are many countries facing the food crisis. Yet, we can assume that this issue is getting serious day by day as the world population is expanding, followed by the needs of food for everyone and every household. In some countries, social order has begun to break down in the face of soaring food prices and spreading hunger. This is one of the reason why there is global food crisis.

                                                                    Scarcity of food

                   (Image source from: http://www.takepart.com/photos/future-food-facts/food-fight)

       Some research have been done base on this global food crisis phenomenon, India is experiencing the scarcity of food. India, the country with all the developments and achievements of the 21^st century has slipped back in time and is experiencing the same food crisis that it had to handle immediately after independence. But, the situation now is much more critical as it was earlier where it had to fend for a mere 380 million, now it had to cater the demands of a teeming 1.2 billion. In India, sugar prices doubled, pulses started completing with oilseeds which in turn became even dearer, and what more worse is even the food grains are becoming painfully expensive. (Mishra.S, n.d.)

                                                             The food shortage happens in India

(Image source from: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Food-crisis-in-Nepal,-two-million-people-without-nourishment-14977.html)

       The main reason behind food crisis in India is due to drought. Drought, the major concern for India agricultural industry as it occurs almost every two-three years and eats away the development of the nation. The occurrence of drought is because of the late arrival and early withdrawal or failure of Monsoon, which is the season that single handedly decides the fate of millions of farmers. The country is adversely affected by the paucity of showers almost every alternative year, plunging the vast number of agriculturists into survival crisis and slowing down the growth of other sectors. Drought years, resulting in food shortage and famine, not only point at the human cost but, in some years, a political and economic cost as well. The problem India is facing is not only of bad monsoon, but also of low productivity of our fields. Since the 90s, food output has hovered around 400mn tons. The problem of rising fuel prices and low availability of food around the world has only added to our hunger pangs. In this season, government’s best bet is going to be the recent rains and import of food grains.

                                                     Drought which causes food shortage

(Image source from: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/TAehFiQTVxigZPjswhUVPM/Drought-fears-rise-in-India.html)

        While in Southern Africa, many countries such as Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are facing the food crisis which causes more than 16 million people may fall into hunger in the months to come. (Care, n.d.) As mentioned above, much of the South Africa continues facing goods shortages, this is because of one of the worst droughts in a decade. Recent rainfall has been erratic and insufficient at its best, and destructive at its worst.  Malawi and Mozambique were among the hardest hit by Tropical Storm Delfina as bridges, roads and railways were damaged, leaving several thousand people being cut off the aid which they so desperately need.  The people most affected by the storm had their homes destroyed and lost any crops they had managed to grow.

        Hundreds or thousands of families throughout the region cannot grow enough food to survive. Farmers have less crops to sell in the markets, and the price of crops available is out of reach for most poor families. Even the wild fruits that communities rely on in times of trouble have been depleted. Many families were forced to sell their livestock and other possessions so as to gain the money to buy food. However, this is only a temporary solution. Severe hungers have threatens millions, particularly among the most vulnerable, for example children, the elder, the pregnant and also the patient.

                                                       Scare of food in South Africa                  

                    (Image source from: http://www.care2.com/news/member/403281706/2072643) 

        Besides that, the scarcity of food has become more frequent and widespread as many Southern African countries are not self-sufficient in food production and only relying on income from cash crops to import food. Agriculture in Africa is susceptible to climatic fluctuations, especially droughts which can reduce the amount of food produced. Moreover, there are also numerous factors which causes scarcity of food to happen in South Africa, including political instability, armed conflict and civil war, corruption and mismanagement in handling food supplies, and trade policies that harm African agriculture. Besides, AIDS is also one of the reasons which have long term effects on agriculture as it reduces the available workforce and creates new vulnerabilities to famine by overburdening poor households.

        Other than India and Southern Africa, there are certain countries such as China and many other South Asian countries which are also the victim of global food crisis. According to ADRA (n.d.), there are still many other reasons which cause food shortage. One of the reasons which cause the food shortage is the environmental reasons, which is the uncontrollable nature. Bangladesh, the country which has the population of more than 164 million people is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It is particularly prone to food shortages due to the constant flooding the country experiences regularly. Their particularly geographic location is not suitable for growing crops. Natural disasters like flooding wipe out crops and diminish the food supply.

                                             The explosion of population in Bangladesh

                           (Image source from: http://banderf.webs.com/explosionofpopulation.htm) 

                                                 People in Bangladesh facing the crisis of food

(Image source from: http://www.partnersintl.org/blog/news/tribal-groups-in-bangladesh-facing-severe-food-shortage)

       Government is also one of the reasons that influence and causes the occurrence of food shortage.  As in other regions of the world, farmland has been redistributed to novice farmers who are not experienced in producing large scale crops. Because of this, they are only able to produce a small harvest. In addition, many of these farmers lack the necessary equipment to help them produce the largest harvest possible. A smaller harvest causes food prices to rise and this increase of price is too much that many people cannot afford to buy the food. In addition, many food-producing nations are imposing food export restrictions. These restrictions increase the price of local commodities and for poor countries that already facing food deficits, millions will starve.  (ADRA, n.d.)

       Another reason for the global crisis of food that is taking place relates to civil unrest. In countries where there are conflicts, it is difficult for anyone to plant a crop and reap a harvest. Furthermore, enemies might destroy crops that are growing in regions that are unstable. Civil unrest also accounts for many water supplies being destroyed or polluted. Whenever one nation goes against another, they often go in and destroy the water pumps, crops and livelihoods of the enemy. (ADRA, n.d.)

                                  (Image source: http://www.adra.org/world-food-shortage.htm) 

        What is more, ADRA (n.d.) also stated that the occurrence of food scarcity can also be attributed to the lack of water. As we all know, water is important in everyone’s life as it covers more than 70% of the earth’s surface. Reduced rainfall, along with no good methods of capturing rainfall in basins or containers, both eventually lead to a lack of food in some form or another. People don’t have the means to water their crops or irrigate their fields. There is also no water for livestock or even their own personal uses.

                                      The lack of water which causes the happen of food scarcity

(Image source from: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/07/26/news/foreign/lack-of-water-causing-child-deaths-in-kiribati-un/)

        After knowing the food scarcity in India, Southern Africa, Bangladesh, China and many other countries, no doubt that Malaysia is a lucky one since Malaysia never faces the problem of food scarcity. Although the prices of food are increasing but luckily, people in Malaysia still can afford it and yet Malaysia has its own agriculture and industrial which produce foods and water.

        Last but not least, we should feel lucky, be relief and appreciate that we do not face the scare of food. Our government should control the production flow of food and prevent price of food from increasing in order to develop our country into a better country so that Malaysian would lead a better life. The government should have the vision and long term program to foresee the possibility of crisis and have the prevention measures.

Reference List :

Mishra, Smita (n.d.) Why India is paying heavily for Food. [Online] Available from: http://zeenews.india.com/FoodCrisis09/story.aspx?aid=561890 [Accessed 4 June 2013]

Chouhan, Shashank (n.d.) Drought & Food shortage: History lesson from the field. [Online] Available from: http://zeenews.india.com/FoodCrisis09/story.aspx?aid=563994 [Accessed 4 June 2013]

ADRA (n.d.) The Growing World Food Shortage. [Online] Available from: http://www.adra.org/world-food-shortage.htm [Accessed 5 June 2013] 

Wikia (n.d.) Food Scarcity in Africa. [Online] Available from: http://humanscience.wikia.com/wiki/Food_Scarcity_in_Africa [Accessed 5 June 2013] 

Holloway, Amber (2012 June 5) Tribal Groups in Bangladesh facing severe food shortage. [Online] Available from: http://www.partnersintl.org/blog/news/tribal-groups-in-bangladesh-facing-severe-food-shortage [Accessed 5 June 2013] 

Care (n.d.) Food Shortage in Southern Africa. [Online] Available from: http://www.care.org/newsroom/specialreports/southernafrica/ [Accessed 5 June 2013]