TO WHAT EXTEND CAN FAMINE BE PREVENTED Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

TO WHAT EXTEND CAN FAMINE BE PREVENTED - Essay Example Prevention of famine has been a major concern for both international organizations and academic institutions. Several strategies have been employed to counter famine and its effects throughout affected regions. Prevention of famine has always attracted the attention of various disciplines, with historians giving account of its occurrence in the past. Famine situations are complex and when it hits a region, the response can be daunting to the people and institutions involved. Various researchers have attempted to develop theoretical as well as comparative interdisciplinary approach to understanding the preventive measures. In order to understand the interlink ages between starvation, disease and starvation and death. Most researchers acknowledge that famine is preventable, compared against other issues such as poverty and food insecurity. This paper will look into the extent to which famine can be prevented and the strategies that can be used to fruitful. Extent to which Famine can be Prevented Famine has been attributed as a massive social failure, and should not be perceived merely as a natural tragedy. Stated differently, famine signals that institutions, organizations, governments and policies have failed. According to Dre?ze & Sen (1989), there should be people who are criminally liable to deaths of millions. Prevention, however, is essentially concerned with the protection of entitlements (Fine, 1997) Most institutions and governments develop policies and programs that minimize the impacts of famines. The most important though should be those that lay enough groundwork for future development. The policies should ensure both famine prevention and long-term food security assurances. The policies must promote and enhance agricultural growth, especially among small-scale farmers. In addition, infrastructural development should take centre stage in the global efforts to combat famine. Environmental rehabilitation programs and effective markets should be develop ed in the fight against famine alleviation. More importantly, each political geographical region must develop capacity to design and implement proper food policies and programs at all levels. Widespread famines have ravaged Ireland, China, India, and the horn of Africa. Famine situations are very complex and to mitigate against them requires a great deal of human commitment across several institutions and individuals. This is often a regional, short-term extreme food shortage, thought of as caused by drought, ecological extinction, and a sometimes accompanied by conflicts. A number of factors including poverty, inequality, commerce that is not regulated, and insufficient food schemes often fuels famine. Malthusian theory predicts that food will grow at a much lower rate than the growth in population, which will put a strain on the existing stocks of food (Madeley, 2000). However, there are writers who have faulted this theory by asserting that modern technology can actually lead to food increasing by more than the proportional increase in population. Dre?ze & Sen (1990) who wondered why in world where certain regions produced food that is more than enough yet other regions experienced severe food situations noted this paradox. Environments are increasingly becoming with the movement of people in the form of rural to urban migration, catalysing