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CAUSES OF POVERTY
While providing solutions to hunger via more efficient food production seems to
be a noble endeavor, problems lie in distribution, land ownership, inefficient
use of land, politics and power play. Currently, food production rates are higher
than population growth (although that is no reason to be complacent). Tackling
hunger directly by providing more charitable contributions of food, or even
finding ways to increase production, is attacking the symptoms of poverty only,
not root causes.
That is not to say that research to increasing food production should not be
done, just that it should be recognized that the deeper problem of fighting the
roots of poverty that causes hunger would allow better use of resources in the
long term. Not fighting root causes of poverty and only fighting hunger will be
costly in the long run as people will continue to be hungry and resources will be
continually diverted to remedy hunger in a superficial manner without
addressing its cause.
Solving world hunger by only increasing food production and not
addressing root causes of hunger (i.e. poverty), would not alleviate the
conditions that create poverty in the first place. If the poorer nations are not
given the sufficient policy space and means to produce their own food, if they
are not allowed to produce and create industry for themselves, then poverty
and dependency will continue.
Giving or donating food as aid or charity in non-emergency situations is also
not always the long term answer. The section on food dumping, next, reveals
additional details on how food aid has been used as a foreign policy tool by
some wealthy nations to their advantage and interests. Hunger and poverty
has increased as an effect.