January 8, 2006
FOOD, FOOD EVERYWHERE BUT NOT A BITE TO EAT:
In Kenya, 'Why Does This Keep Happening?': Return of Drought and Threat of Starvation Renew Calls for Sustainable Development (Emily Wax, January 8, 2006, Washington Post )
"Africa is not so poor that it doesn't have enough food or grazing land to feed itself. There's plenty of food here," said Ben Ole Koissaba, a leader of the Masai, one of the largest and most powerful tribes in Kenya. "Many countries around the world face drought, but people don't starve. We think it's ludicrous for the government to treat its citizens this way. Why does this keep happening?"Many are asking that question as yet another drought threatens lives and destroys crops and livestock here. About 11 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia are "on the brink of starvation," the United Nations said this week. In northeastern Kenya, at least 40 people, most of them children, have died from malnutrition and related illnesses since December, according to the Kenya Red Cross.
Enough food is grown in Kenya to feed all of its population of 33 million, but many citizens, especially the country's poor subsistence farmers, cannot afford it.
Starvation isn't caused by a lack of food, but by inept governments. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 8, 2006 8:46 AM
And their stalwart supporters among the left in the West.
Posted by: Peter B at January 8, 2006 9:01 AMWhich is why we need to stop sending money or even food. If we want to feed them we need to take the food to the starving not depend on the governments to do it.
Posted by: Bartman at January 8, 2006 9:13 AMIf only the governments were just inept. Famine and starvation in Africa is not an act of God, it's man-made, caused by U.N. meddling and unimaginably corrupt leaders.
The only way to help these poor people is to get the U.N. out, depose the despots, institute simple sanitation measures, and teach the farmers modern farming techniques.
Posted by: erp at January 8, 2006 9:38 AMAn example of why "cafeteria culture fails--a people which adopts only parts of Western folkways heads for disaster.
If the case of Africa, the disaster has grown out of accepting just enough technology to allow populations to burdgeon without changing the underlying political and social pathology.
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 8, 2006 9:58 AMLou:
Population has nothing to do with it. There's plenty of food to feed them.
Posted by: oj at January 8, 2006 10:17 AMLou:
As David points out here frequently, feeding the world and providing it with basic hygiene is not rocket science and is well within our grasp and expertise. You don't have to change the underlying anything. Just enforce private property rights, drop the punitive tariffs and ensure the market runs cleanly. Aid should be restricted to emergency relief and technical assistance.
Posted by: Peter B at January 8, 2006 10:37 AMLou:
As David points out here frequently, feeding the world and providing it with basic hygiene is not rocket science and is well within our grasp and expertise. You don't have to change the underlying anything. Just enforce private property rights, drop the punitive tariffs and ensure the market runs cleanly. Aid should be restricted to emergency relief and technical assistance.
Posted by: Peter B at January 8, 2006 10:38 AMDitto erp. They need to become more self reliant. Let them figure out how to solve their problems. They are social/political, not from lack of resources or technology.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at January 8, 2006 11:42 AMafrica is going to need saving from itself. there is something structurally wrong there that will only be corrected by outside forces.
Posted by: toe at January 8, 2006 3:40 PMYep, Plenty of food. No problem.
All we have to do is ENFORCE this, DROP that, ENSURE the other thing, and RESTRICT something else.
A task for an empire, I should say.
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 8, 2006 5:00 PMLou,
No need for an empire. Just make sure the U.N. stays completely out of Africa and give the despots fair warning to shape up or we'll ship them out.
What a terrific campaign for the next elections.
Yes, there is absolutely no need for an empire.
But it sure helps.
Posted by: Peter B at January 8, 2006 8:56 PMKill Mugabe. Tonight. Announce a massive aid drive for Zimbabwe tomorrow morning. The rest will get the idea, and act accordingly.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 8, 2006 9:48 PMYes. Sometimes the solution is simplistic. The people in that benighted land have suffered long enough. If a real effort were in the making, many of the Africans living in the west might go home to lend a hand in the rebuilding.
Posted by: erp at January 8, 2006 9:55 PMP.J. O'Rourke makes the same point (re: the true cause of famine) in his excellent book "All the Trouble in the World". Should be required reading for every high school sophomore.
Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at January 8, 2006 10:29 PM