Famine: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

This essay explores the causes, consequences, and solutions to famine. It discusses the role of natural disasters, war, and government policies in creating food scarcity. It also examines how famines are human-made emergencies and what can be done to prevent them. Course code: N/A, Course name: N/A, College/University: N/A

Running head: FAMINE
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Famine is a widespread scarcity of food that occurs when several factors including war,
natural disaster and other massive social phenomenon takes place (Alexander 2014). It is a state
of acute hunger that results in excess mortality rate caused due to hunger-induced diseases or
starvation. Famine has occurred across the world in different period of time, causing different
level of sufferings. Learning the difficulties and the situations of the people who face famine,
there have been many helping hands simply for the sake of humanity. However, the concept of
humanitarian that seems very simple is not really simple. In practice it is not only just helping
people in need but also struggling with complex political, economic and moral challenges. The
simple definition of famine, ‘lack of available food’ is complex. Through some scholar’s work it
has been revealed that although famine is a natural disaster, it often occurs when some section of
society do not have the access to food that is available. In the same discourse, the essay aims to
discuss famine as an artificial disaster that is caused only due to the existing inequality in the
society (Stathakopoulos 2017). The essay will consider the famines since 1980s and describe
multiple factors that cause famine and the way famines are human made emergencies. The essay
will focus on the rapid increase in the number of humans needing emergency food assistance and
the reasons for global hunger in the era of declining poverty are faced by unconnected countries
of South Sudan, north eastern Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia.
Conceptualizing famine:
Famine is a state of prolonged hunger that can be found in a considerable proportion of
the population of a country or a specific region (Oxfamamerica 2019). It leads to widespread
malnutrition and acute death by starvation or diseases that are induced from starvation. Famines
can last for months however it mostly lasts for a restricted period of time that can range from a
few weeks to a few years (Mayers and Vander Heiden 2015).

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Famine cannot continue to remain in a place for indefinitely. In any case, if it does, it
affects the population in extreme way that it will eventually be decimated. Consequences of
famines can be dreadful such as fever, diseases and starvation till death. Malnutrition, along with
various other consequences causes social disorganization, outbreak of infectious diseases and
many severe results. Although in the contemporary era poverty is slowly on decline, famines are
still occurring and causing dreadful results. The contemporary factors are inclusive of war, crop
failure, population imbalance and government policies. It will be discussed in the below
paragraphs and the facts Amartya Sen has presented in regard to famines (Hasell 2016).
According to Butler (2014), famines are similar to wars and epidemics that have long
history from ancient times. Some of the examples of famine from the 20th century include the
Chinese famine of the 1959-61 that led to 15-30 million deaths, 1984-85 the Ethiopian famine of
that caused approximately 1 million deaths however it impacted more than 8 million people and
1995-99 North Korean famine that caused deaths of 2.5 million people. Countless famines are
perceived as natural causes brought by droughts, flooding, unseasonable cold, plant diseases,
insect infestation vermin depredations and typhoons such as the great famine in Ireland occurred
in 1845-49. Famine is broadly understood as an extreme crisis of access to sufficient food which
is reflected in widespread malnutrition and loss of life for the starvation caused by it and the
infectious diseases.
Factors that causes famine:
Even though natural factors played important role in the history of famines of the middle
ages, there are other causes as well. Famine is a widespread scarcity of food. The main reason of
famine is absence of food for every person in order to survive. However, the factors are the

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phenomenon that leads to a situation where there is absence of food (Lappalainen, 2014). Often
these phenomenon are war, inflation, population imbalance, and crop failure or government
policies. These phenomenon are commonly accompanied by the regional malnutrition, epidemic,
and increased mortality. However, famine is not simply a lack of food. Famine may look similar
to a situation looking like a lack of food. Most people think it is brought on by a war, drought or
an outbreak of disease. It is also believed that the main reason of 19th century famine is due to
overpopulation. Famine is caused by multiple factors compounded by poor policy decisions that
make people vulnerable. When there is no one to address this vulnerability, it results as famine
(Yaussy, DeWitte, and Redfern 2016).
Some scholars even call famine a political scandal which is often complicated to
understand. It is certainly a major concern of the people to understand the reasons for recent
famines in the decade of reducing poverty. According to political scientists, in the government
capacity it is a catastrophic breakdown or it is the keenness of doing what is recognized to be
necessary to prevent famine. The times when government fails to prevent or end conflict or help
families prevent food shortage due to any reason, they fail their own people. In the last 50 years,
there have been decline in famine drastically. However, a famine and near-famine condition now
observed in the current times. According to World Peace Institute, one of their recent studies
released a statement on the deaths of famine that includes present trends as resulting from
military actions and exclusionary, without the consideration of the wellbeing or survival of
people any forms of authoritarian politics conduction (Bobrov 2016).
As mentioned by Bryner (2014), extreme factors such as international humanitarian law
violation including attacks on health facilities, blockading ports, aggression against humanitarian

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workers and barrier of relief aid are all carried out along with a sense of renewed impunity.
Therefore, famine is observed to be striking most factors when the accountability fails.
The threat of famine in Nigeria is due to the conflict occurred between armed groups and
the Nigerian military. The conflict between the two has prevented the farmers from growing any
food in some northeastern areas approximately for five years. The regions of Yemen and South
Sudan has faced famine due to food supplies cut off as well as difficulty in accessing food and
help by people during the civil war. A lengthy and serious drought that occurred in Somalia was
the reason for destruction of most of the crops and livestock which is commonly the main source
of food and asset for most families. In the case of Somalia, the situation is compounded by
climate change and the effects of long-term conflict. Therefore, it resulted continuing in making
difficult to get help to few of the hardest-hit communities (Cogan and Digital Content Team).
Famines occurring in the many places, however one of the most profound places is Africa
where the reasons can be analyzed in order to understand the causes of famine. It is surprising
that although famines were eradicated from Asia and Europe during 21st century, it did not
eradicate from Africa. Looking at the history of famines in Africa, it can be noted that
contemporary famines affect fewer countries and kill fewer people than it has in the past, there is
certainly some sort of progress (Devereux 2001). Like other places famines persists in Africa
even after technical and institutional establishment. After United Nation’s declaration on the
right to food, a closer examination and analysis has been done. It has been found, famines affect
specific groups of people whose vulnerability can be defined through their shared relationship
food. The situation can be explained by Food availability decline (FAD) which explains famines
as sudden disruptions to food supplies as explained by Amartya Sen (Devereux 2009).

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Are famines human-made emergencies
According to King and Mutter (2014), the view of the recent famines in the regions of not
only Sudan but also other regions is heartbreaking. The pictures of children with sunken cheeks
and spindly legs of famines are hard to look at making people confused about the causes of
famine. As discussed above, there are multiple factors that lead to famine. However, the
question that really needs an answer is if famines are human made emergencies. It is nature that
causes flood and drought however; people have found ways to get food to those affected areas.
Human folly is a reason for famine that happens when the ways of helping then people in need
are blocked. For several years it was thought that a shortfall in food availability resulted to
famines. Then in the year 1981, Amartya Sen published “Poverty and Famines: An essay on
Entitlement and deprivation”. The Indian economist and philosopher argued that there has never
been a serious famine in a country. It is not even an impoverished one when there is a democratic
government and a free press (Kanth, 2016). Through his publication he showed that famines
actually resulted when there is availability of food however it is not accessible to some group of
people. Even though the world think Africa to be the main place of famine, in reality the most
dreadful famines were in Asia (China) and Europe (Ukraine). According to some experts,
famines are crimes of either commission or omissions since it is the decisions and actions of
humans that determine the level of crisis deteriorates into famines. They also believe that famine
cannot be eradicated without holding people who are responsible of it. Famines possess multiple
factors and have numerous reasons. They certainly involve climatic factors such as drought,
violent conflicts, political causes and economic shocks such as rapid inflation. The impacts turn
more severe when certain groups become extreme vulnerable with the contribution of underlying
factors. During famines, mortality may be worsened by displacement as well as conflicts.

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Reducing or obstacle towards accessing food deliberately is often a means of war. It cannot be
called a twist of fate when the danger of famine in South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and
northeastern Nigeria is happening in the midst of protracted and violent conflicts (Goyal et al.
2017).
According to Battersby (2013), considering the examples, the 2011 famines in Somalia
was the result of a brutal drought, devastating loss of purchasing power and a dramatic spike in
the food costs and conflicts. These situations were the result that occurred on top of long-term
environmental degradation as well as deteriorating opportunities in not only pastoral livelihood
but also in the agricultural livelihood along with the nonappearance of a central state authority.
An armed group was one party to the conflict was who were called as a foreign terrorist by the
United States and other countries (Ozkan and Orakci 2015). The party, Al Shabaad was able to
control people’s movement and access to markets and excluded or directly threatened many
humanitarians’ agencies. External donor governments made priority while considering the
terrorist threat. They warned not to be associated with any diverted or stolen aid with the
terrorists as it would be a criminal offense. These policies made the situation tremendously tricky
for humanitarian agencies in order to assists groups that were impacted by the famine. The blend
of man-made factors and response measures or adequate prevention till the announcement of
famine provoked a more energetic response. Within that specific time, the number of people
dying from famine had already reached to its peak. It was not surprising to see that the worst
affected groups within Somali society were the most marginalized groups (Anderson and
McKnight 2014).
Famines are caused by several cumulative processes that can be observed and predicted
(Sen 1981). This certainly means that famines can be prevented through timely public actions.

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For the natural climatic change reasons, early warning systems such as rainfall trends and
FEWSNET monitor agricultural production. They can also make analysis of commodity markets
as well as price conflicts, patterns and trends. They are also capable of tracking trends in food
access, labor migration, mortality among at-risk population and malnutrition. Humanitarian and
government agencies can utilize this information in order to limit and stop famines. Since the
year 1950s, one of the prime tool to respond to famines are food aid (Funk et al. 2014). Producer
countries help by shipping food to countries in crisis and the World Food Program, the
humanitarian organizations deliver it to affected population. It is important to pay more attention
to the affected population and in protecting people’s livelihood to help them cope with the crisis
as well as recovering afterwards. One of the primary forms of aid in the recent days is cash
transfer even through The US government also provide food aids (Apte, Gonçalves and Yoho
2016).
Today famines are reoccurring again in the era of declining poverty. As discussed above,
the simple definition of famine, ‘lack of available food’ is complex. Through some scholar’s
work it has been revealed that although famine is a natural disaster, it often occurs when some
section of society do not have the access to food that is available (Stathakopoulos 2017). The
reason for the famines in the era of declining poverty is conflicts and natural disasters such as
drought and lack of food access. They are converging in vulnerable areas where the impacts of
the famines are difficult to face. More vulnerability is caused due to the shortened recovery
cycles between recurrent crisis and due partly to change in the climatic condition.

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