The new face of hunger

The New Face of Hunger

The problem on food shortage happening today , especially in those considered third world countries , is almost unbelievable especially when the more grim reality is taken into account - that this crisis of 2008 is not calculated to go away in the next few years , but will stay and linger until it has affected and wiped out the gains of the poorest in the past decade when the economy was in progression , leaving also another 100 million people poor along its wake (Zoellick . If this calculation was made out

of accurate perception of the world 's real economic situation , and therefore will actually happen more or less in the near future , the problem then is not something that is to be treated casually . This sudden surge of price-rise on wheat and rice was due to increase in demand and not actually because the supply was scarce . There were radical changes in recent decades that occurred with regard to sustained production of those crops considered to be sources of staple food . Because of the increase of demand , the otherwise sufficient supply has now become inadequate , leaving the world 's economy faltering According to an article written by Francisco Noguera (2008 , the biggest culprit behind all these crises is the Biofuels Programs of the West Since there were acres of land converted to accommodate the government 's Biofuel program , the outcome was shortage in food supply . Wealthy people in India and China , with power now to hoard more grain and meat , have in turn exerted an upward pressure which contributed to the waning supply of grain . Biofuels Programs have virtually converted cereals into fuels ' Making matters worse , the ripple-effects of this problem on food shortage are the negative coping with which everyone among different sectors - especially in the market - are responding . Of course , export quotas are diminishing , those who import grains are into panic-buying , and finances siphoned to potential new markets , etcetera With all of these radical changes taking place in the markets among nations , in the agricultural sector however , there aren 't much comparable changes taking place commensurate to the sudden shift . The solution to the problem of food crisis is easy to detect . Looking at it in smaller scale , and in individual level , when someone is hungry , the involuntary reaction is to eat - to feed one 's self . If the family is big , the father will of course endeavor to provide enough to meet the need of his family . The irony which has been happening in this critical scenario is that instead of allowing the agricultural sector to respond naturally , the governments of some of the affected nations for fear of more mass uprisings have tried to sedate the populace , rendering them numb and incapable of responding properly to the need for not directly absorbing the impact once it had hit . In those cases , the government had effectively muffled the shock . For example , out of the 58 countries watched by the World Bank , 48 have enforced certain...