famine+history

= Causes of Famine in Africa = Home | Most Affected Countries | How You Can Help | Webquest | Works Cited

by Shengmei Yin Famine is the lack and scarcity of food. It has been an ongoing issue in Africa that will be problematic for many years to come. In general, there are 38 million African citizens facing starvation ("Famine Spreads Across Africa). There are many debates on the issues which lead to famine; droughts, diseases, population increase, and political issues are among the top-ranked causes.

A drought is a type of weather condition that is indicated by a period of low rain or dry weather, and it is especially harmful to crops. It is one of the leading causes of famine, and an example of a drought is shown in the picture below. Farmers invest their time into harvesting, but droughts prevent the crops from growing due to the lack of water. As a result, as the production rate of crops decrease, the rate of African citizens under starvation increase rapidly. Among the fifty-three countries in Africa, the areas in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique are impacted the most ("Famine Spreads Across Africa"). These three countries are the most active grain producers, and they are struggling to provide the provisions needed to feed everyone.
 * Droughts **



Diseases are also a cause of famine. AIDs and HIV have devastating results on the people of Africa and as well as on the food stock. The growing rate of victims of AIDs and HIV threaten to affect more and more people in Africa every day. Among the world’s AIDs and HIV cases, 69% of them lie in Africa ("Africa Population Dynamics"). Within those cases, most victims are farmers, children, and women. Since the food production industry is composed of mainly women and farmers, once the diseases started to take over, the food production process slowed down and eventually lead to famine. Additionally, not enough education is taught about the prevention of diseases such as AIDs and HIV, thus the outcome of less able-bodied workers and food shortage. Some of the victims of AIDs or HIV in Africa are shown below.
 * Diseases **



 **Population Increase** Africa’s population growth rate of 2.36% is considered to be the highest in the world ("Africa Population Dynamics"). Consequently, the high population rate caused famine among Africans. As the population increased, the struggle to feed all of the Africans only became worse. As of November 18, 2009, Africa’s population hit one billion ("Africa Population Tops a Billion"). Such a high number in population along with poor crop production caused a scarcity in food. To extend further, the population increase also caused food prices to rise; as a result, many Africans were not able to pay for food. The picture below shows only a small portion of the African population.



Political tensions like civil wars and money shortages have caused famine. For example, the war between Sudan and its neighboring countries left over 2.9 million Sudan residents in need of shelter and food ("Famine Spreads Across Africa"). Of course, along with the other issues like droughts, diseases, and population increase, not enough food was able to be provided. Also, many of Africa’s countries are in debt. Therefore, they do not have the sufficient amount of money needed to import food.
 * Political Issues **