Drought In South America Research Paper

As the population continues to grow the challenge of sustainably feeding the population increases. Countries like India, china, and Africa are some of the most agriculture abundant locations in the world yet they are the ones suffering the most from hunger. Currently 1 in 7 Americans struggle to eat enough food everyday. Poverty in Africa however is very different from America in regard to hunger. In America 40 percent of Americans from age 25-60 will experience at least a year below the poverty line. This quite the contrary to Africa where most people spend their whole life under the poverty line. The major difference is resources, many Americans can overcome poverty and find a steady job to support themselves. In Africa there are limited jobs, most people have to cultivate their own food and supply their own drinking water. It is an endless cycle of hunger with no real way out unless outside help is given.

For at least the past four years, California has been in a drought. Since it has been so long of a drought, officials are finally starting to encourage people to diminish their usage of water. When the encouragements are not working, they use force and statewide restrictions are put into place. In an article titled ¨The Wrong Way to Think about California Water¨ by Michael Hiltzik, the author rants on Californians for the amount of water that they use daily, yearly, and constantly. However, the argument only supports one side.

The first article 4 ways to end hunger in Africa from CNN explains almost 800 million do not have enough food to eat daily in Africa. This reason lead Africa to put greater emphasis on agriculture and supporting their farmers. They achieved to a remarkable goal in cutting the malnourish in half since the 1990. The United States has raised it efforts in the commitment to ending global hunger, poverty, and child malnutrition because of all the

African nations easily fall at the bottom of any list that involve economic measures. In fact, “34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries are in Africa” (“UN List of Least Developed Countries”) and “40% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa live in absolute poverty” and this is definitely a problem (“Poverty”). Poverty is known as the state of being extremely poor. The causes of Africa’s poverty ranges from “political instability, national debt, discrimination and social inequality, vulnerability to natural disasters, and overpopulation” (“What Are the Causes of Poverty?”). However, these are just a few examples. There are many other economical disasters that are currently happening in Africa. Poverty is a conflict that can easily relate to any other problem, which is why it should be considered the biggest problem in Africa. Moreover, if poverty is reduced, it would solve a number of Africa’s other complications. Poverty has many affects on Africans such as reducing their education, unfortunately gives residents mental and physical issues and diseases, and extra social spending from adults.

Food will always be one of the most important things in your life. Every living thing on the face of the earth needs nutrition to survive, grow, and reproduce. Unfortunately, about 795 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. This number represents about 1 in 9 people on the planet and is much higher in developing countries where 13% of the population is malnourished. Malnutrition or malnourishment is a condition that results from a diet in which there are not enough nutrients or there are so many that the diet causes health problems. A malnourished persons body has difficulty doing normal things like growing and fighting illnesses. Two billion people in the world suffer from various forms of malnutrition. The most basic kind is called protein energy malnutrition. This includes low height and weight and a lack of nutrients that help the body to function properly. Another common group is overweight, obesity, and diet related diseases like diabetes and heart disease. When people refer to world hunger, they are talking about undernutrition. One of the places most affected by this is Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, the area of the African continent that lies south of the Sahara Desert, has the highest level of food insecurity in the world.

The environment is an increasingly important issue in development as those living below the poverty line directly rely on the water and land resources surrounding their communities. With only 20% of land capable of producing crops and 75% of its workforce engaged in agriculture[4], Kenyan farmers face problems of soil erosion, deforestation, water pollution, and desertification. The increasingly severe drought has left 3.5 million people without enough food to survive while pastoralists have lost their herds to starvation and conflicting tensions mount over the scarce water resources. The population largely depends on agriculture as their form of income and nutrition. Communities have had to rely on humanitarian aid and help organizations to maintain its agriculture and for food supply.

Child hunger is an ongoing problem all around the world, but it is statistically more severe in the developing world, with 1 out of 6 children suffering from malnutrition and malnourishment. Africa has the countries with the most staggering child hunger rates; with 2,500 children dying daily from starvation (Borgenproject). Starvation and malnutrition have significant negative impacts on a child’s cognitive and neurological function, organ function and formation, and their physical growth. More importantly, starvation leaves children vulnerable to other serious diseases, stunt growth, and eventually, death. As someone living in the United States, it is difficult to make child hunger in Africa a priority, because one is literally and figuratively so far away from the issue, as well as misinformed and lacking the resources necessary to tackle the different causes that lead to child hunger in Africa.

The economy of Africa is a main reason of Africa’s poverty. The economy is corrupt meaning that the people controlling the money are being dishonest. The government is also in a lot of debt. For example South Africa is in 137,681,168,206 dollars in debt. This is just one of all the African countries that are in debt. Fifty percent of working people in Africa make an astonishing $1.25 a day. In total fifty percent of people in Africa

The long drought that had crippled the farmers and ranchers finally ended for day after day the rain came down in sheets.

Once new crops can be grown plentifully, the problem of child malnutrition can be addressed. Gates states that “malnutrition runs rampant across a continent of farmers, affecting children’s cognitive and physical development.” If one major change could be made to the way Africa is operating it should be one that changes for the children. Every improvement that should be made should be in favor of the next generation because they are the ones who will create success or not.

Throughout the world, children suffer and die every day from issues caused by poverty, a large number of poor children are in Africa. Poverty is the leading problem for the African children causing not only physical health issues; but emotional, educational, and social problems as well. Many of these children are very sick from the water they drink, not having enough food, or from extremely contagious diseases passed throughout their villages. Although poverty has the worst effect on people in Africa, poverty is a problem everywhere. It leaves people hungry, and sick, and with no real place to sleep. Some solutions to poverty are simple, but more people are needed to want to help. If more people

Dr. Galbraith raised some very specific global questions during his second talk. The largest question raised was if Africa can rise to the challenge of helping the world during on the impending food crisis. Galbraith discussed several points that show why Africa could potentially play a large role in the ongoing food crisis. Africa is considered a very large land mass in relation to its population, having 60% of the Earth’s uncultivated arable land and the continent having over a quarter of the total arable land on Earth. With this kind of land, Africa has the potential to provide food security not only for the African people, but the rest of the population. Because Africa has underdeveloped agricultural resources, including arable land, an agricultural transformation could break the cycle of poverty among the African people. Keeping all this in mind, the overall global question presented is if Africa is the answer we have been looking for to solve the food crisis.

Hunger and malnutrition have always been at the forefront of Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) public health issues, but with recent climate changes, food insecurity has been of more concern. Temperature increases and crop variability are among the few recent environmental challenges faced by a continent largely dependent on agricultural produce (Quaye et. al, 2012). In SSA, the agricultural economy plays a crucial role in the nourishment of African citizens. It contributes to 30% of their gross domestic product (GDP) and approximately 60% of SSA’s workforce are involved with agriculture. The productivity of crops grown for human consumption are at risk and often face droughts, flooding, loss of soil and water resources (Quaye et. al. 2012). Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of malnourished per capita with 33% of its population considered to be undernourished (Carter, 2006). The prevalence of malnutrition in SSA has only dropped 4% in the last twenty years, indicating a desperate need for a solution (Arthur et. al. 2014).

In the world, many people are facing with food issues, such as hunger, food loss, and malnutrition. Even if a total of malnutrition rate was globally decreasing by 8%, there were 800 million people who were undernourished during the 2012 and 2014 (Seitz, J. L., & Hite, K., 2016). World Bank says that 80% of undernourished people are women and children (Seitz, J. L., & Hite, K., 2016). In fact, about half of children under 5 globally died because of malnutrition (“Children malnutrition rate”, 2017). Typically, people’s health is most strongly related to what they eat, and lack of nutrition always brings a variety of diseases and infections. Development of countries also is related to nutrition. In developing countries in Africa, many people are suffering from food shortage. For

Three quarters of the world's population is inadequately fed and the majority of these live in the developing countries. Massive surpluses exist in Europe and the US. Malnutrition and undernutrition is generally caused by poverty. Markets in the developed countries are often too big and produce too much food for a population to consume. Developed countries' agriculture is lacking from unemployment, untreated diseases, food