Why Can’t People Feed Themselves?
Introduction:
The problem of food has been an intrinsic one over several hundreds of years where those who have plenty cannot seem to be able to balance out their resources with those who have nothing. In their seminal interview, Moore Lappe and Collins (1977) focus on why most of the planet goes hungry although there are ample resources in the world. They explain that the hunger of the world is based on several factors, amongst of which is the legacy of colonialism especially in Africa where several have been made to suffer unduly as they are left to their own devices without any sort of guidance on how they can grow their own crops or become self-sufficient. It is a powerful essay indeed which is full of allusions to how colonialism has completely destroyed the mindset of these developing nations where their land was seen as simply a source for exploitation without any effects on the natural population which suffered unduly and which continues to suffer as its resources are left underdeveloped and are perennially exploited.
Forced peasent production
The authors argue that the colonial mind set insisted that peasants were there simply to grow crops and that was it.
“Although raw force was used, taxation was the preferred colonial technique to force Africans to grow cash crops. The colonial administrations simply levied taxes on cattle, land, houses, and even the people themselves. Since the tax had to be paid in the coin of the realm, the peasants had either to grow crops to sell or to work on the plantations or in the mines of the Europeans”.
This intriguing quote explains why hunger was so prevalent in those times and why famine broke out at regular intervals without any sort of intervention from above. A case in point would be the Bengal famine in India in the late 1870’s where millions of people died due to a combination of factors largely caused by drought and this created a situation where hunger became a terribly and edifying cause of death.
Lappe and Collins also make reference to the infamous marketing boards which were set up in countries like the Gold Coast and Sierra Leone in the 1930’s where the agricultural crop was bought from African farmers at a very low price which was actually below the market price and then resold in other countries for up to seven times the purchase price. Naturally this created a huge anomaly and the Africans were left deeper and deeper into poverty with the result that most of them ended up going hungry and dying in their droves. This cruel system of exploitation continued well into the 20th century with the international firms doing their level best to exploit the farmers with huge profits being the result of their endeavours.
Suppression of peasant farming and the plantation system
One of the most glaring jnustices in the whole colonial system was the suppression of pesant farming and the plantation system. The authors describe how ahuge portion of what is now Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was taken over by the British and designated as Crown land so that profitable farming could be set up with vast wealth being created for those who decided to invest there. Obviously the local population had absolutely no say in the matter and had a stark choice, either to accept the impoverished conditions being offered by the colonial masters or starve to death.
“The stagnation and impoverishment of the peasant food-producing sector was not the mere by-product of benign neglect, that is, the unintended consequence of an overemphasis on export production. Plantations—just like modern "agro-industrial complexes"-- needed an abundant and readily available supply of low-wage agricultural workers. Colonial administrations thus devised a variety of tactics, all to undercut self-provisioning agriculture and thus make rural populations dependent on plantation wages”, (Lappe, Collins, 1977).
This quote is important as through it one may observe the utter ruthlessness with which the colonial administrations worked to ensure that the lands which came into their possession were exploited to the full. This obviously also meant that the pesants who worked the land had absolutely no choice or say in the matter and they had to conform to these tactics without any sort of qualms. This created an unfair and unjust system where hunger and famine were the order of the day as it is quite obvious that if subsistence wages are paid, the amount would not be enough to feed large families. The rate of famine and starvation in countries like India was undoubtedly enormous and other countries especially in Africa also suffered from the same sort of exploitation.
Continued exploitation and the destruction of the local food producing economy
The British and Portuguese continued exploiting their colonies well into the 20th century. In cases such as the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the agricultural economy bottomed out as it headed for disaster whilst the result for the Africans was that several hundreds of thousands of workers had to migrate for better working conditions to other countries in Africa itself. Obviously this created a substantial famine all over the continent with food prices settling at rock bottom and millions brought close to starvation. The authors also reflect on the fact that as late as 1973, the Portuguese were still exploiting their colonies in Angola and Mozambique by sending hundreds of thousands of workers to work in the South African gold mines with huge returns for the Portuguese government.
Conclusion: Colonialism is the source for famine.
In their seminal essay, Lappe and Collins definitely argue that colonialism was a force for the creation of famine in the developing. The manner in which several hundreds of thousands had to work for starvation wages in order to survive was really quite shocking as was the system where the crops produced by the agricultural labourers of the country in question were paid at prices which were as much as half the market price for such commodities. This system undoubtedly created a vicious circle which is still in evidence today as African products are still priced at way below the market level as are those in India and other former colonial countries. The phenomenon of cheap labour continues to provide situations which are ripe for hunger and famine all over the world and this situation really is the root of all problems where hunger is concerned. The authors provide a hugely convincing argument in this respect as they demonstrate that famine is indeed a man made phenomenon which has caused the deaths of untold millions across the centuries with colonialism a force for evil in this respect.
References:
Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins (1977); Why Can't People Feed Themselves, From Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity, Random House
Radha Sinha (1976), Food and Poverty; New York: Holmes and Meier, p. 26.
John Stuart Mill, Political Economy, Book 3, Chapter 25
Peter Feldman and David Lawrence (1975), Social and Economic Implications of the Large-Scale Introduction of New Varieties of Food grains; Africa Report, preliminary draft (Geneva: UNRISD, pp. 107-108.
