Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
land so that most were landless laborers working for absentee British landlords. In the
summer of 1845, potatoes started to rot after being dug. The cause was a fungus disease
that affected all potatoes being grown in Ireland. Potatoes were the staple of Irish diets,
being eaten three times a day. Soon people had no food. The result was widespread star-
vation and mass emigration to North America. In 1846 Britain permitted free sale of
grain to the Irish, but few people had enough cash to buy it. In 1847, Britain set up
feeding programs and emergency relief programs, but when a banking crisis hit
London, these were suspended. By 1855 an estimated 750,000 people died by direct
and indirect effects of the famine. Another 2 million emigrated to North America.
11.2.4 Modern-Day Famines
Modern-day famines still occur but are not widespread. This is due largely to the efforts
of wealthy nations to provide food and to the existence of transportation systems able to
move food from one region to another. There are still limits to the degree we can ame-
liorate natural disasters. The food shipments to north India in the 1960s were insuffi-
cient largely due to the limitations of the port facilities for unloading grain.
11.3
EFFECTS OF FAMINE RELIEF
When people are starving, it is natural to wish to relieve the suffering by providing
food. It is hard to argue that this is a bad thing, and yet it can lead to dislocation of
local food-producing systems and sometimes can worsen the overall food situation in
a region. A secondary problem is lack of knowledge of use of food being supplied.
Supplying grain to a local area will keep people from starving but will also depress
local markets. Why buy food when it is being given away free? In such a situation there
is little incentive for farmers to plant, let alone harvest. Thus famine relief should con-
tinue for the shortest period of time possible and no longer than when a new crop can be
produced. The local population must be made aware that the supply of free food will
end during the harvest of crops. However, it is hard to make people act on the basis
of a threat that free food will end.
Two examples of the sorts of problems associated with free food are cheese pro-
duction in Costa Rica and grain in the Sahel. Costa Rica has a vibrant cheese-producing
sector that can provide all the cheese needed by the country. However, the United States
shipped excess cheese to Costa Rica in the 1980s depressing the market and stemming
the development of cheese production in the country.
During a famine in Tanzania, bulgur wheat was shipped to starving people. The
problem was that the local population did not know how to cook bulgur wheat, and
so its usefulness in stemming starvation was limited.
11.4
GREEN REVOLUTION
Traditionally, Nobel prizes are granted to outstanding individuals working in physics,
chemistry, medicine, literature, economics, and peace but not agriculture. However,
there
has
been
one
Nobel
Prize
recipient,
Dr.
Norman
Borlaug,
who
is
an
