Causes of Hunger are related to Poverty

Over 9 million people die worldwide each year because of hunger and malnutrition. 5 million are children.
Approximately 1.2 billion people suffer from hunger (deficiency of calories and protein);
Some 2 to 3.5 billion people have micronutrient deficiency (deficiency of vitamins and minerals);
Yet, some 1.2 billion suffer from obesity (excess of fats and salt, often accompanied by deficiency of vitamins and minerals);
Food wastage is also high:
- In the United Kingdom, “a shocking 30-40% of all food is never eaten;”
  - In the last decade the amount of food British people threw into the bin went up by 15%;
  - Overall, £20 billion (approximately $38 billion US dollars) worth of food is thrown away, every year.
- In the US 40-50% of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten
  - Of the food that does eventually reach households, some 14% is wasted, resulting in something like $43 billion of wastage
  - If food reaching supermarkets, restaurants and cafeterias is added to the household figure, that wastage goes up to 27%.
- In Sweden, families with small children throw out about a quarter of the food they buy
- In some parts of Africa a quarter or more of the crops go bad before they can be eaten. More generally, high losses in developing nations are mainly due to a lack of technology and infrastructure as well as insect infestations, microbial growth, damage and high temperatures and humidity.
- The impacts of this waste is not just financial. Environmentally this leads to:
  - Wasteful use of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides;
  - More fuel used for transportation;
  - More rotting food, creating more methane — one of the most harmful greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change.
  - Reducing wastage in the US by half could reduce adverse environmental impacts by 25 percent through reduced landfill use, soil depletion and applications of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.
The direct medical cost of hunger and malnutrition is estimated at $30 billion each year.

In a world of plenty, a huge number go hungry. Hunger is more than just the result of food production and meeting demands. The causes of hunger are related to the causes of poverty. One of the major causes of hunger is poverty itself. The various issues discussed throughout this site about poverty lead to people being unable to afford food and hence people go hungry.
There are other related causes (also often related to the causes of poverty in various ways), including the following:

Land rights and ownership
Diversion of land use to non-productive use
Increasing emphasis on export-oriented agriculture
Inefficient agricultural practices
War
Famine
Drought
Over-fishing
Poor crop yield
Lack of democracy and rights
etc.

INFORMATION SOURCES

The Institute for Economic Democracy covers a broad range of issues and ties them together very well. In relation to land rights and agriculture:
- Subtly Monopolizing Land
- Unequal Trades in Agriculture
Dumping Food Aid: Trade or Aid? (subsidized) Food Aid in kind: what is in it for the WTO (PDF Format), Food, Trade and Nutrition Coalition and Wemos, April 2005. This briefing, presented to the WTO looks at the issue of food aid as food dumping, providing a summary of the major issues, and also the main global institutions and countries involved.
The Food, Trade and Nutrition Coalition, a coalition of organizations works for the realization of the universal right to adequate food, particularly in relation to international trade negotiations at the WTO.
OneWorld’s Land Rights Guide also points out that it is not a shortage of land but a shortage of rights.
The Case for Small Farms, an interview with Peter Rosset.
Free Lunches, Yes: Free Markets, No suggests that sharing common resources such as land is economically a sensible choice.
Land Rights in Africa has a lot of resources and information on the impacts of limited right to land in various African nations.
AlterNet.org, a web site of independent and alternative journalism provides a multipart look at some myths about industrial agriculture, highlighting a book, Fatal Harvest, from which the articles are extracted:

Politics of hunger links

A three-part debate:
1. Ten reasons why biotechnology will not ensure food security, protect the environment and reduce poverty in the developing world. Altieri, M.A. and Rosset, P. (1999). AgBioForum, 2(3&4), 155-162.
2. Ten reasons why biotechnology will be important to the developing world. McGloughlin, M (1999). AgBioForum, 2(3&4), 163-174. (A reply to Altieri and Rosset’s points, above.)
3. Strengthening the case for why biotechnology will not help the developing world: a response to McGloughlin. Altieri, M.A. and Rosset, P. (1999). AgBioForum, 2(3&4), 226-236.
The Agroecology in Action web site looks at a scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to study, design, manage and evaluate agricultural systems that are productive but also resource conserving.
The Potential of Agroecology to Combat Hunger in the Developing World suggests an alternative which may provide a number of advantages over the “Green Revolution” which will also help empower and benefit local people. It is an example of articles on the above Agrecology web site.
12 Myths About Hunger from the Institute for Food and Development Policy.
Lessons from the Green Revolution also from the Institute for Food and Development Policy.
Readings on Poverty, Hunger, and Economic Development from the Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism web site, by Richard H. Robbins of New York State University provides many more additional resources.
The Politics of Hunger, by Ross Copeland, September 2000 provides an overview of the links between the politics/economics of poverty with hunger.
OneWorld.net UK’s Food Campaign section provides many articles from a wide variety of sources.

The United Nations Population Information Network has a number of facts and figures.
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Is population the problem? from Oxfam Community Aid Abroad challenges the view that "the world population brings to many people's minds an image of crisis - overpopulation, depletion of the world's resources, and environmental degradation."
The Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment is an alliance of scholars, activists, and health practitioners providing feminist analysis and engaging in activism on population, environment, and health issues.
Population Dynamics and Resources From Agrepedia provides numerous perspectives.
The Center for Defense Information have a great section called Water, Land, People and Conflict. It has a great transcript, maps of hot spots etc.
The 6 Billion Human Beings web site presents many statistics.
Population?! by Michael Albert provides an insight into some of the frameworks of the debate and provides additional views to look at the issue.
Population: Delusion and Reality by Amartya Sen, September 22, 1994. An old but interesting article.

O2 VISIONS

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World hunger & poverty: A Perspective by Anup Shah

Causes of Hunger are related to Poverty