Will you help me with my essay by giving me your ideas about tackling world hunger?

Question

I'm doing an exploratory essay. My thesis question is: How are governments around the world impacting the attempt to end world hunger, and how effective are civilian efforts in comparison?

Basically, what are the pros and cons of government efforts to end world hunger (not just in the U.S. but abroad as well). Also, what can you and I do to help, and how much power do we have to impact the issue in comparison to the government?

I'd like to hear other peoples' views on the issue. Thanks!

Answer 1

I have to agree with Alan M that your subject is perhaps too broad. On the subject of world hunger it is still true that 'if you give a man a fish it will feed him for a day; if you teach him to fish, he can feed himself for a lifetime'. So if you use this a  premise, then your short term goal needs to be supplying food and your long term goal requires education.  I also do not believe in doing your homework for you so this is my general view on the subject. You can run in several different directions with it - and Nora has listed several possibilities for you - and still score a good mark.

Good Luck with your assignment.

Answer 2

We really need to slaughter more cows.

Answer 3

Tackling world hunger is too broad a topic for any thesis I would think.  Here are a few links, thousands more like them, that address only one cause of an impending food shortage that is only going to exacerbate world hunger not improve it...ethanol

Answer 4

You need to make sure that if food aid is given that it does not become a weapon of war, like in Somalia and  pre- invasion Iraq.

Answer 5

Governments affect the fight on global hunger in different ways, some positive, some negative.  Government grants may fund research on new crops that are better adapted to grow in a specific region or produce a crop that has more food value than the crops currently being grown.  Governments send direct aid in the form of money and food.  These rarely affect hunger in the long term, since a large part of the money never reaches the intended recipients and food grants directly affect the local economy as another answerer mentioned.  Sometimes other things they do have unintended results, as in the US pushing for ethanol production which suddenly took millions of bushels of corn and wheat off the food market worldwide, as another answerer mentioned.  Even civilian groups like the Red Cross and CARE can have their efforts undone as corrupt governments hold up the shipments in the ports until it rots or relabels it as government issued.

Other things can affect the food supply, like weather and overpopulation.  We can't do much about weather, but when one government refuses to fund birth control because of their religious objections to it, this also affects global hunger.

Answer 6

Overthrow the corrupts in USA and  Impeach Bush

Answer 7

The biggest issue here is that all too frequently - efforts to alleviate hunger create larger problems that have to be dealt with later.

The biggest example of this is the effects of food aid on the local economy.  The food aid depresses local food prices which results in lower local food production (because locally grown foods cannot compete against 'free' food aid).

The biggest impediments to economic prosperity in disadvantaged countries is poor government, corruption and the lack of a 'free market' economy.

Until these three factors are resolved - no amount of food aid is going to resolve the problem in the long term.

Answer 8

1) Provide birth control in the form of sterilization.

2) This will eliminate the millions and millions of new starving generations. Each family should be allowed only 1 or 2 children. Maybe they can feed them but certainly not the 15 that are usual in third world countries.

3) Have scientists figure out a way to grow food in the desert. Most of these people live on or near a desert and that is another big problem.

4) I can't do anything globally. I donate to my local food bank. I know this sounds cruel but if you feed the starving in third world countries now, you will only create a bigger problem of even more millions of starving in the future. It just works that way.

Answer 9

To tackle world hunger, a multifaceted problem, several solutions need to be engaged:

Developed countries should scale back consumption and waste of water, energy and food.

Small-scale local farmers should be supported and encouraged in undeveloped countries.

Both potable water and sewage should be carefully upgraded managed in developed countries.

Water management and sewage treatment should be an important focus in undeveloped countries.

These measures will address short-term needs. Longer term solutions would certainly include:

Both developed and undeveloped countries should limit families to one child.

Assisted conception should be abandoned as a use of scarce medical resources.