[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[SANET-MG] ending hunger in china



Ending hunger in China

Indur M Goklanya,

aOffice of Policy Analysis, US Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240, USA

Available online 14 July 2005. Lancet 366,202-203



Your Editorial on ending hunger in China (May 21, p 1746)1 rightly notes that it is a common misconception that “upping food production will eliminate hunger”. But reducing food production by eschewing yield-enhancing genetically modified crops, as you apparently favour, will only make matters worse.

Basic economics tells us that if supply drops, prices will go up, more people will be priced out of the market, and even more of China's rural poor will go hungry.2 Lower prices also make it easier for governments (and philanthropies) to purchase food for distribution to the needy. In fact, lowering food prices by increasing food production is perhaps the surest method of increasing poor people's access to the food supplies they need. It is hardly surprising that the reduction in global hunger (in both absolute numbers and as a proportion of the global population) over the past half century has been accompanied by higher production and lower food prices (in inflation-adjusted terms).2 and 3

Another method of reducing hunger is to increase the purchasing power of the poor. Here, too, the bumper crops about which the Editorial is dubious will be a boon. Wealthier farmers will boost the economy of rural areas (where over 60% of China's population resides), which means more rural jobs, more people with greater purchasing power, and, therefore, less hunger.

You claim that China's approach, by which I presume you mean efforts to enhance production, “will make little headway in feeding China's malnourished millions unless the underlying causes of hunger—poverty and inequitable access to land and trade—are properly addressed.” This is a statement of intent, not a practical programme. What is your approach for properly addressing these problems that have proved intractable for millennia, and for bringing these lofty intentions to fruition?

The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily the US government's nor any of its units.

I declare that I have no conflict of interest.


References
1 The Lancet, Biotech quick-fixes will not end hunger in China, Lancet 365 (2005), p. 1746.

2 IM Goklany, Saving habitat and conserving biodiversity on a crowded planet, BioScience 48 (1998), pp. 941–953.

3 IM Goklany, The future of the industrial system. In: D Bourg and S Erkman, Editors, Perspectives on industrial ecology, Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield (2003), pp. 194–222.

********************************************************
To unsubscribe from SANET-MG:
1- Visit http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html to unsubscribe or;
2- Send a message to <listserv@sare.org> from the address subscribed to the list. Type "unsubscribe sanet-mg" in the body of the message.

Visit the SANET-MG archives at: http://lists.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html
For more information on grants and other resources available through the SARE program, please visit http://www.sare.org.