Hunger and Famine in the United States: Causes and Solutions

Introduction to Hunger and Famine

The world has confronted innumerable problems since humans first walked on Earth; however, with the passage of time, these problems have intensified and pose a serious threat to the survival of the human species. What makes this concern more complex is that the problems are diverse in nature — spanning social, political, and economic arenas. Grave attention and cooperation from world communities is therefore required to address and mitigate them, otherwise the consequences could be catastrophic (Austin 337–345).

Since the onset of the twenty-first century, patterns of life and growth have experienced unprecedented changes, including an exponential increase in human population alongside a decrease in available and exploitable resources. As a result, problems such as scarcity of good-quality food, poverty, hunger, famine, associated illnesses, and rising rates of undernourishment have all worsened. Appallingly, these issues have already resulted in numerous deaths around the world, affecting people of all ages. They must be addressed with urgency, or they will continue to undermine human welfare on a global scale (Maddocks 1–15).

A look around the globe reveals that hunger and famine loom largest in the nations of the developing world. Due to underdeveloped economies, poor social infrastructure, lack of effective governance, and the interference of wealthier nations, populations in these countries largely languish in poverty and hunger. Natural disasters, lack of sophisticated agricultural machinery, and overpopulation also contribute to the problem (Hilliard, 2011).

Studies reveal that the total amount of food produced worldwide is sufficient to feed all of the planet's inhabitants, yet a considerable number of individuals still suffer from hunger and significant malnourishment. Furthermore, due to global warming, the frequency of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and droughts has increased sharply, and their adverse impacts have further worsened conditions by destroying food crops and livestock and causing regional famine. Scarcity of financial resources for rehabilitating disaster-affected regions compounds the problem, leaving local populations to endure serious food shortages (Hilliard, 2011).

Reports indicate that the cycle of hunger persists from generation to generation, as the lack of resources and the economic instability that afflicts the global economy continues to fall most heavily on people in the developing world. Consequently, those who already face numerous hardships as citizens of developing nations are further forced to bear the burden of famine and hunger (Onino, 2011).

Furthermore, many nations still rely on traditional methods of agriculture and therefore cannot produce sufficient crops and livestock to generate profits. A lack of roads and irrigation systems — particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries — creates obstacles to transporting agricultural output from farmlands to markets. In many regions that do have adequate infrastructure, the cost of transporting goods to local markets and shipping them to other countries is prohibitively high, leading to food shortages and persistent hunger (Onino, 2011).

Another factor that causes hunger is the absence of adequate storage facilities for stockpiling food that could be used during periods of drought or famine. Governments of developing countries are so focused on stabilizing the economy that they often fail to recognize that investment in food storage infrastructure could diminish food crises. When a country overproduces food, proper storage facilities would allow that surplus to be preserved for times of shortage. Without such investment, excess food frequently spoils and hunger crises emerge whenever drought strikes (Onino, 2011).

In this context, the thesis of this paper holds that contrary to what some thinkers and theorists have argued, hunger and famine are often experienced in the United States as a significant problem, separate and apart from the issue as it exists in third-world countries.

The United States is considered one of the most developed, powerful, and wealthy countries in the world. However, looking at the darker side of this "land of plenty," hunger and famine are among its most alarming realities. Facts and figures reveal that millions of Americans — including infants, children, adults, and the elderly — suffer from food scarcity and struggle with hunger on a daily basis (World Hunger Education Service, 2012).

The Issue of Hunger in the United States

One important factor is that hunger is also common in developed nations like the United States that depend heavily on imported food. Imported commodities tend to be expensive, as taxes raise their sale price, while the majority of the population cannot afford them. As a result, lower-income individuals do not have reliable access to food at reasonable prices and therefore face hunger (Wilson 29–45).

Alongside topographical, natural, and economic factors, a number of human-made forces also drive hunger and famine. History shows that armed forces have sometimes used hunger as a weapon of war, deliberately destroying food sources, farmlands, and water supplies to force local populations to abandon their land. Inventions of advanced weaponry have made modern wars more destructive, displacing countless people and destroying the agricultural infrastructure upon which communities depend (Wilson 29–45).

Destroyed lands become less productive and can lose their fertility entirely, making crop cultivation impossible. These conditions have generated severe hunger crises around the world, affecting not only developing and underdeveloped regions but also developed nations such as the United States (Wilson 29–45).

The hunger and famine crisis in the United States escalated significantly following the global financial crisis, which left a deep imprint on the American population and caused food insecurity to rise at a dramatic pace. This rapid rise in hunger remains one of the most pressing issues requiring serious attention (World Hunger Education Service, 2012).

According to recent statistical records, approximately fifteen percent of U.S. households have experienced food insecurity — the highest rate in the country's history. One of the major reasons for this is a rising poverty level, which has climbed at an accelerated pace and is now the highest recorded in the past fifty years, according to the United States Census Bureau (World Hunger Education Service, 2012).

Trade dynamics also contribute to domestic hunger. Because developing and underdeveloped nations offer abundant labor at low wages, wealthy countries like the United States have shifted their production operations abroad in order to reduce costs. This export of jobs leaves lower-income American workers particularly vulnerable to food insecurity (World Hunger Education Service, 2012).

The structure of the American economy further reinforces the problem. In a highly competitive free-enterprise economy, employment increasingly favors the most highly qualified workers. Lower-income individuals, who often lack access to quality education, are left unemployed and form a disproportionate share of the food-insecure population (World Hunger Education Service, 2012).

Cultural diversity, while one of the United States' greatest strengths, can also reflect deep-seated inequality. People of certain racial and ethnic groups are statistically more likely to experience low income, poor housing, inadequate access to food, and substandard health care — all of which contribute to hunger and deprivation. These persistent disparities in poverty and food access are well documented in U.S. Census data and represent a structural dimension of the hunger crisis (World Hunger Education Service, 2012).