The controversy erupted on Twitter towards the end of October 2021. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) director, David Beasley, fired the first salvo. He had been quoted by CNN Business as saying that just 2% of Elon Musk’s fortune (of nearly $300 billion) could solve world hunger.
Elon Musk, as always, was quick to respond: “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.”
However, Beasley had been misquoted. CNN later corrected the director’s statement, which claimed that such a contribution from Musk would “help” solve hunger, not ‘will” solve hunger (more than a subtle difference, I’m sure you’ll agree).
But regardless of whether Elon Musk makes a significant donation, the spat did have a positive spinoff for the WFP. It placed the stark reality of what Beasley described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the Second World War on the front pages of the world’s media.
To quote the WFP website on a looming disaster many of us may not have been aware of: “This year, 584,000 people will likely face famine-like conditions in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen. Nigeria and Burkina Faso are also of high concern.
“And the threat of starvation continues to grow in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. All in all, more than forty-one million people in forty-three countries are currently on the very edge of famine and risk starvation. That’s up from twenty-seven million people in 2019.”
No food for thought
Famine can be caused by several factors: extreme climate conditions such as droughts, floods or severe cold. Insect or rodent infestations and plant disease can also cause havoc leading to crop failures. Then there are human causes: wars, economic collapse, pandemics, poverty and inequality, and disastrous government policies.
So what officially constitutes a famine? According to the WFP, the United Nations declares a famine when the following circumstances are evident: when at least 20% of the population of a region is experiencing extreme food shortages; when 30% of children are suffering acute malnutrition; when two people out of every 10 000 of the population die on a daily basis.
Famines seem an abstract event to many of us living comfortably in the developed world, a throwback to an era when an invading enemy besieged fortified cities.
Yet, a closer look at history reveals that the world’s most devastating famines have all occurred in the last 100 years. Or to personalise it, during the lifetime of your grandparents along with their parents or grandparents.
Food weaponised
During the 20th century, between 70 and 120 million people died of starvation.
Precisely 100 years ago, between 1921 to 1922, the nascent Soviet Union experienced its first of several severe famines. Known as the Povolzhye Famine, it came about due to a multitude of factors. The economic disruption caused by the Russian Revolution, which was exacerbated by the subsequent civil war. The requisitioning (or looting) of food by all sides in that conflict. Also, the inadequate and inefficient rail infrastructure further complicated food distribution. In the two years that the famine persisted, five million Russians starved to death.
Famine was also used with ruthless efficiency the Soviet Union dictator, Joseph Stalin, in his quest to eliminate land-owning farmers called Kulaks. Stalin saw them as enemies of the state that stood in the way of his plans of combining small family farms into vast, state-controlled collectives.
Another reason was Stalin’s industrialisation program, which caused most of the country’s grain harvest to be confiscated and sold to the West. The foreign exchange earned was then used to purchase industrial equipment.
Between 1932 and 1933, Stalin’s policies resulted in seven to eight million deaths. Quite ironic when you consider that among the many titles bestowed on Stalin were “Brilliant Genius of Humanity”, “Dear Father”, and “Gardener of Human Happiness.”
The Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933 - known as the Holodomor – was also caused by Stalin’s collectivisation policies. It was also an attempt to destroy Ukrainian village culture so that Russification could be established. Plus, it served to dissuade any thoughts of independence that Ukrainians may have harboured that presented a threat to Moscow’s hegemony.
To this end, Soviet authorities dispatched brigades of agents to confiscate all grain and foodstuff they could find. As a result, Holodomor decimated approximately 13% of the Ukrainian population, or just under four million people.
During WW2, it’s estimated that between 70 to 85 million people perished, with many deliberately starved to death as part of Nazi policies.
For instance, when German troops invaded the Soviet Union, the Hunger Plan was put into action. In Gemany it was known as der Backe Plan after the SS official, Herbert Backe, who was in charge of securing Germany’s food supply.
To achieve this, Backe masterminded a programme that denied food to the civilian populations of territories under Nazi occupations. Instead, all food was confiscated and sent to Germany, which resulted in 4.2 million Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians to die of starvation between 1941 and 1944.
It’s also estimated that of the 5.7 million Soviet troops captured by German forces, 3.3 million were deliberately starved to death in concentration camps throughout Eastern Europe.
Of course, the people who suffered most were the Jews. Initially forced into ghettos in cities throughout the occupied territories, they were prohibited from buying dairy products, meat, eggs and fruit. They were then forced into concentration camps where they were murdered in their millions, with many dying of starvation.
As quoted in nobelpeacecentre.org: “Starvation was a central strategy in the Nazi genocide against the Jews. Hitler had long been aware of the power that lay in controlling the food.”
However, as unspeakably evil as they were, Stalin and Hitler were not alone in condemning millions of people to death through starvation.
Mao Zedong’s so-called Great Leap Forward, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 38 million people between 1958 and 1961.
It was the most disastrous famine throughout all recorded human history.
Throughout its history, China had been blighted by bouts of food scarcity. In the 20th century, the famine of 1927 was considered the worst as six million people perished. Other severe famines occurred in 1929, 1939, and 1942, which resulted in several million more people succumbing to hunger.
But, however bad those events were, they paled in comparison to the Great Leap Forward, the brainchild of Mao Zedong, which was executed by his fanatical communist party cadres.
As part of Mao’s second five-year economic plan, it was an attempt to transfom what was largely an agrarian society into an industrial superpower. And key to this would be a massive increase in the production of steel. However, it was all based on a lie.
In 1957, with much fanfare and propaganda, Mao announced that the country had enjoyed its most successful harvest ever. The significance was that the supposed bounty of food would allow the rural population to produce steel in ‘backyard forges’ spread throughout the country.
Such was the irrational zeal of party cadres that agricultural implements and tools were melted down at these forges. Even cooking implements were melted down. Then, as the obsession with steel output intensified, people were coerced to hand over every metal atricles they could find: iron door handles, women’s hair clips, anything made of metal. Even old nails were knocked out of furniture, doors, and window frames in a warped frenzy to increase steel output.
During 1958 and 1959, when signs of famine were already apparent, the Chinese government exported seven million tons of grain to other countries. It seems that foreign exchange was more valuable than the lives of fellow citizens.
Mao also dictated the working conditions for the 90 million people who collected scrap metal and manned the forges: ten hours a day, seven days a week, with only two days off per month.
From the beginning of the programme, Mao’s plan was an unmitigated disaster. The steel produced in the backyard forges was of such low quality – no more than pig iron – that it was unusable.
Famine relief on the world stage
If there was one event that made you extremely grateful to be a baby boomer, it has to be the 16-hour marathon Live Aid benefit concert that played simultaneously in London and Philadelphia in 1985.
On par with Woodstock in 1969, Live Aid defined the era.
However, the reason for the concert was triggered by a severe famine that had taken hold in Eithiopia two years previously. Caused by a combination of ruinous government policies, drought, and a civil war, the famine was first brought to the attention of western countries through a hard-hitting documentary by the BBC.
By 1984, almost one million people had starved to death, and another eight million people were at severe risk. The crisis spurred an unprecedented international response from several countries. Sweden, the UK, East and West Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Canada, and the USA made significant contributions.
However, it was the efforts of an Irishman that captured the world’s imagination.
Bob Geldof, the lead singer of the Boom Town Rats, was so moved by the news footage that was now dominating TV newscasts that he formed a supergroup called Band-Aid, which comprised some of the biggest stars in the UK and Ireland.
The song they recorded was written by Geldof and ex-Thin Lizzy and Ultravox leadman Midge Ure, and it was entitled, Do they know it’s Christmas. It sold 3.69 million copies, making it the number one hit for several weeks. It also raised £8 million towards famine relief.
Not to be outdone, the USA music industry, led by the legendary record producer and composer Quincy Jones, also produced a smash hit single called We are the world. Performed by a large cast of American stars, it sold over 20 million copies.
However, it was the Live Aid concert that smashed all expectations.
Held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on 13 July 1985, the concert was viewed on live satallite link-ups by 1.5 billion viewers - almost 40% of the world’s population - in 150 countries. It also raised more than $127 million for famine relief in Africa.
The most outstanding rock performers of the day each had a 20-minute slot on the stage during the 16-hour show. They included Queen, U2, Madonna, Bob Dylan, George Michael, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Bryan Adams and Paul Simon and a host of other stars.
Iconic groups that had previously disbanded reunited just for the concert. They included the Who, Black Sabbath, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, and Led Zeppelin, who performed in Philadelphia, with Phill Collins on drums.
And what made Collins’ performance more remarkable was that he had already played in London a few hours earlier, which made him the only performer to appear at both venues, thanks to a supersonic flight on Concorde.
However, as hugely successful as the Live Aid relief programme was, it was not enough to consign famines to the history books.
Within ten years, between 1995 to 1999, North Korea was next to experience devastating food shortages, which led to the deaths of up to 3.5 million people.
The famine resulted from the political collapse of the country’s principal benefactor, the Soviet Union, which was exacerbated by the incompetence of leader Kim Jong Il, who had only been in power for a few months before the famine began.
Almost half the world’s food is wasted
Considering the amount of hunger in the world, it is mystifying why we waste so much of the food we produce.
Globally, we discard between 1.3 and 1.6 billion tons of food every year. Put another way, approximately 40 to 50% of all the food we harvest is wasted.
Why? Inclement weather before or during harvests. Damage that occurs during transportation, processing or packaging. Fruit and vegetables that do not meet the stringent aesthetic qualities that retailers and consumers demand. And the biggest reason of all, food exceeding the sell-by date. Both the retailers and consumers are almost manic about these dates, regarding them as red flags. For instance, according to foodprint.org, an estimated 80% of Americans prematurely discard food due to confusion over the meaning of date labels.
However, throughout most developed countries, sell-by, best-by, and expires-by dates are only suggestions by the manufacturers. They are not mandated by law.
The millions of tons of food that ends up in landfills presents another disturbing statistic: the carbon footprint generated by decaying food is so huge that only the two largest polluters in the world – China and the USA – produce more CO2.
Also, as it decays, food produces methane, a greenhouse gas responsible for around 20% of global warming activities.
Banking on charity
It’s a sad irony that in 2021, three of the four largest contributors to UNICEF, the USA, UK and Germany, have their own domestic issues with child hunger.
There are currently around 2 000 food banks in the UK – the world’s fifth wealthiest nation. According to the Trussle Trust, the most active charity that supports over 1,200 food distribution centres, 1.9 million food parcels were distributed to needy families between 2019 and 2020. The recipients included almost one million children.
Of course, the Covid pandemic has been hugely devastating, but when you consider that the demand for food banks in the UK has increased 128% over the past five years, the problem is far more systemic.
During the pandemic, the UK has seen the most significant surge in demand for food banks. A CNN article dated 5 November, entitled, Heating or Eating, describes the situation in London.
Food banks have started to attract new clients. An educated middle class including fully employed teachers, graphic designers, and journalists are battling to make ends meet in the face of considerable increases in the cost of living.
Germany – the fourth largest economy – also operates close to 2 000 food banks, with 940 operating under the banner of nonprofit Tafel Deutschland. They cater to more than 1.6 million people, of which approximately 500 000 are children.
As for the world’s wealthiest nation, the US Department of Agriculture has stated that 49.1 million Americans are food insecure. In addition, according to Save the Children, some 30 million youngsters are dependant on school lunch as the main meal of the day, and approximately 13 million children are underfed.
Hunger – be it officially categorised by the UN as famine or disadvantaged people living in wealthy societies skipping meals so the kids can eat – either way, it’s utterly unacceptable if we are to avoid the tragedies of the last 100 years.
As the WFP state: “Around 811 million people across the globe still go to bed on an empty stomach every night. And one in three people suffers from some form of malnutrition.”
But the agency also points out a ray of hope: “Our global food production system grows in size and output every single day. That means there’s enough food on this planet to feed every single person.”
It’s just tragic that we waste so much of it.
Fabulous read again
Fantastic article! Watched a series recently that addressed how many restaurants around the globe do not support local producers as the food is sometimes “blemished” and that they would rather incur greater costs on imported produce that is less fresh and less tasty. If restauranteurs are happily doing this, can you only imagine what the supply and demand for perfect produce is like with the general consumer? This is where education is key to help prevent food wastage! Inspiringly though, local South African businesses like Yebo Fresh in Cape Town have been trying to address servicing those less fortunate with food parcels and affordable groceries delivered directly to their doorsteps. COVID saw a greater need to support those who had no infrastructure to order food to their homes. It’s businesses like these that should be praised for the hard work and dedication they put into addressing the very real food crisis that South Africa faces today .