Shah 1

Swara Shah
Santosh Khadka
English 113B
19 April 2016
What is causing World Hunger?
There are many problems around the world, each with their own
importance but none more so than World hunger. While this is a global issue,
it is not taken very seriously by many societies, worrying only of themselves
and not the world at large. But lets think about it, what is it like to not have
food? well, lets just imagine not having food for several days, Just the
thought of it is painful. Which is why we need to consider world hunger as a
major problem. Truly, as we think its not about one person its about the
whole world we are talking about. Many people are starving in this world and
there are many reasons behind it. For instance, many individuals believe that
world hunger is caused by overpopulation while, others think that it is due to
poverty or wasting food.
In a recent article it has been said 795 million people- or one in nine
people in the world- do not have enough to eat. Thats a huge number of
people who doesnt have access to food all around the world. There could be
many reasons as I haven mentioned. It has also said Every 10 seconds, a
child dies from hunger- related disease. Also, There is so much hunger
because the world is overpopulated (Ruthrauff). which is why I believe many
people arent desired to have food which is pathetic because we cant do

Shah 2
anything about it. Its not in our hands but is affecting our world. As said in an
article world population topped 7 billion in March 2012 and is expected to
exceed 9 billion by 2050 (Smith).
Further in depth, I interviewed one of my friend Jessica, to see what
she has to say about this problem. During the interview she said, hunger is a
main issue and she thinks that overpopulation can be the reason behind it.
Since there hasnt been many agriculture and drought could be the reason
why there is not much food for everyone out there. She believes that farmers
need to do their job better and supple the products on time in which this
situation can be lessen. Because its not our fault that there are just too many
people.
As population increases time by time as said, malnutrition
increased at least as rapidly as world population over the same period
(Ruthrauff). I agree with Ruthrauff that as population is increasing many
people are suffering from hunger. Because there is enough food for everyone
but population just keeps rising. Many people use food stamps but still, there
is food shortage.

Shah 3

This picture indicates that overpopulation

is the main reason that many people arent fortunate enough to have
food.
Although, overpopulation can be one of the reason but thats not the
only thing I have mentioned for example, poverty. Many people cant afford
food and are starving to death. ... poor are hungry and their hunger traps
them in poverty. I think that poverty is the reason why many people cant
buy food for themselves and are not getting enough nutrients for their body.
Also as said, farmers often cannot afford seeds, so they cannot plant the
crops that would provide for their families. So as we see from this article
that farmers dont have money to buy seeds in which they cant provide
foods to their own family and also other people who rely on the farmers for
food. because as said The world produces enough to feed the entire global
population... but many people dont have access to food or simply cant
afford it.

Shah 4
I interviewed my friend priya who was going through financial crisis
and at one point she couldnt afford food and was living on food stamps. She
said how there is so much food globally but not many can provide food to
their loved ones. For example, she said about her own family that how her
parents couldnt afford healthy food to their family and which why they had
to take the support from government. But many people dont even get that
are are simply dying each day by hunger. Further she said I cant even
imaging going through the same problem that I had in my past because food
is necessary.
I agree with Priya because I believe that many people are jobless in his
world are poor which is why they cant have food on their table. It is very sad
to hear that many families are going through this problem. Also, said in an
article To solve world hunger in the long run, poverty alleviation is required
(Shah). I strongly agree with the author, because I believe that poverty is one
of the main reason which is leading to world hunger.

Shah 5

This picture indicates how kids are starving miserably and are
suffering due to poverty.
Further more, I went to a park nearby my house, where I saw some
people yearning for food and were crying and suffering. Also, eating food
from trashcan. However, other people didnt seem to care and were just
passing by and simply just ignored as if there was nothing there. It was very
sad to see this people hovering I search of food. Most of the people over
there were kids around 11 to 12 years old. According to the United Nations,
nearly a quarter of children in developing countries under the age of five are
expected to remain undernourished in 2015. Thats just really pathetic.
Government is supporting only few people with food stamps and other
benefits but what about these people who are enduring the same situation.
As said,

Shah 6
I think there should there should be some type of program for these
people who are need. As said malnutrition is one of the top leading causes
of deaths all over the world. The number one country that is being affected
of malnutrition is Burundi about 73.4 percent population is undernourished.
As stated Over half of Burundis 9.85 million citizens live below the poverty
line (Clea Guy). not just the poverty is the problem in Burundi but as well
as overpopulation. Because the country is importing more goods than
exporting. I believe that the reason is because many people dont have jobs
and because of overpopulated price of food are increasing ad not everyone
can afford it. In the article, it says that two million of its 7.5 million people
are dependent on food aid. That is a huge amount of people who are relying
on government for support but this are just few people who are taking the
advantage from government where other people in worse situation have no
idea where to seek help from. Plus, it says that 68 percent of Burundians
living the below the minimum threshold (Ndikumana). What is really sad
about Burundi is that 16 percent of the population in Burundi have one meal
a day. Thats really painful and the main cause of this is overpopulation so
that the food can get to everyone and not just the same person. But, that
means that people are not fortunate enough to have proper meal a day.
In many cases poverty and overpopulation is not the only problem to
global hunger. One of the other reason could be wasting food. people all
around the world waste food meaning they take too much amount of food
than needed and in the end it all goes to wastage. But we dont see that

Shah 7
many people in this world are unfortunate and are not capable to have food
on their table, which is why everyone should keep this in mind that the food
that you might be wasting can be useful for someone else.
Further I went to a restaurant to observe myself to see what I believe is
true or not? I saw many people ordering plenty amount of food and indulging
half of it. People should understand capacity and not ordering so much food.
that amount of food can save someone from hunger. As said in an article,
Global Food Banking that One- third of food produced globally is lost or
wasted. Which doesnt come out to be a shock because through my
observations I saw individuals were wasting big amount of food and because
of it other people are suffering to death. I think that people should take a
step for this to prevent it before it gets worse because statistics shows that
this numbers have been increasing which is very shameful. Some of you
might be thinking why do we care? Well, it is not a one-person problem it is
the whole world we are talking about. As said by Alon Tal Over the years,
hundreds of millions died a horrible death of hunger.

As said, in Global Hunger. nearly 3 million children die from hungerrelated causes. People need to start thinking on this issue before this
number increases because then later on everyone might starve to death
because of abundant amount of food that is being wasted.

Shah 8

This picture shows that people get unnecessary amount of food and
ends up in trash.
Additionally, I interviewed my friend to know her thoughts on wasting
food. Like she said people waste food all around the world and we cant
really do much about it since its their own personal matter. but one thing
that I would say is wasting food can be the cause of world hunger but cannot
be the main causes as overpopulation and poverty. Because I have seen
people wasting so much amount of food in restaurants and it might be
affecting our world but very much. I somehow agree with my friend even
though it can be or of the reason but definitely not the main one.
Poverty and overpopulation can be the main reasons for world hunger.
For example, china their overpopulation is making people suffer from hunger.
Recently I read in an article, by Nancy lenson that More than 20 million
Chinese died of hunger. Thats a huge amount of people and as said the

Shah 9
article to face this situation people would actually stuff cotton in their mouth
to make themselves believe that they have food and that and everything is
going to be okay. It is also said, A shortage of fertile soil and overpopulation
has been one of the biggest problem china is the most overpopulated
country and many people are suffering from hunger and are dying because
of it. As Alon Tal has said, Ecologist explain that the collapse in global
biodiversity is also linked to overpopulation. So many things are caused by
overpopulation and world hunger is just a part of it.
Since all of this are a cause of world hunger one needs to come up with
a betterment solution to fix this problem. I think a program should be created
for unprivileged people so that they wont have to suffer because of it. A
program which can promise people to have meal at least one time a day.
Which would save people lives and that everyone can take the benefit from
government than just few people out there. because I honestly, believe that
the main reason for global hunger is overpopulation. We cant really do
anything about it since its not in our control. But I feel that government
should make a program for people in need all around the world whether it is
china or Burundi or any other country. Not only it would save people but the
kids out there who are the future of our world, wont have to compromise for
food.

Shah 10
Work Cited

Hunger Project. Know Your World: Facts About Hunger And

Poverty http://www.thp.org/knowledge-center/know-your-world-

facts-about-hunger-poverty/ Print.
Ruthrauff, Alex. Hunger and Population Growth: Correcting a
common Misunderstanding Action Against Hunger.
http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/blog/hunger-and-populationgrowth-correcting-common-misunderstanding 27 October 2011.

Print.
World Food Programme. What Causes Hunger

https://www.wfp.org/hunger/causes Print.
Smith- Collins, Smith. Training helps reduce world hunger
Poverty Delta Farm Press.
http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&u=csunorthridge&id=GALE
%7CA305257697&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&userGroup=csunor

thridge&authCount=1 11 October 2012. Print.

Shah, Anup. World Hunger and Poverty Global Issues.
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/6/world-hunger-and-poverty 22

August 2010. Print.

Novicino, Trish. 11 Countries with the Highest Rates of
Malnutrition in the World Web.
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/11-countries-with-thehighest-rates-of-malnutrition-in-the-world-350276/ 29 May 2015.
Print.

Shah 11

Clea Guy, Allen. Worlds 10 Hungriest Countries Food & Hunger.

Web. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/the-worlds-10-

hungriest-countries/ 10 March 2014. Print.

Global Hunger. https://www.foodbanking.org/hunger-food-

banking/about-hunger/global-hunger Print.
Bolinger, Mathias. The Hunger World. China, hunger and the
developing world http://www.dw.com/en/china-hunger-and-the-

developing-world/a-15480557 11 July 2011.

Tal, Alon. Overpopulation Is Still the Problem TheWorldPost.
Web. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-tal/overpopulation-is-

still-t_b_3990646.html 27 November 2013. Print.

Ndikumana, Edras. War, rural overpopulation stoke Chronic
hunger in Burundi 16 October 2015.
http://reliefweb.int/report/burundi/war-rural-overpopulation-

stoke-chronic-hunger-burundi Print.
http://sites.psu.edu/mehealth/wpcontent/uploads/sites/23511/2015/02/photo_verybig_102920.jpg

Image: 2
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/images/overpop.gif Image: 1