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Famine

Famine can be described as the extensive and protracted scarcity of food, resulting in severe undernourishment and mass starvation. The twentieth century saw more people die as a result of famine than at any other time in recorded history. Despite the fact that the current era looks unlikely to surpass this milestone, it is expected to have the objectionable distinction that the majority of its famines will be man-made. Equally, however, many argue that in no preceding century has famine been more avertable. As a result, various observers assert that it is now social, not technological or natural, obstacles that impede famine prevention.

The Historical and Geographical Parameters

Famine has been recorded as far back as the third millennium BCE. Past famines are often known and remembered by particular names, some of which offer unique insights into the catastrophes: the French la famine de l'avenement (the Famine of the Accession of Louis XIV) in 1662; Ireland's bliain an áir (“the year of the slaughter”) in 1740–1741; the South African Madhlatule (“eat what you can and say nothing”) famine of the 1800s; and the 1930s' Holodomor (“death by hunger”) in the Ukraine are some of the more indelible examples (O Gráda 2009).

The historical and geographical legacy of famine is diverse. Yet, when thinking of famine, developing countries—particularly in sub-Saharan Africa—are invariably the first to come to mind. Records, however, provide a more balanced impression. Europe, for instance, has a long history of famine, so much so that some historians argue that mass hunger defined Europe in the Middle Ages. The Great European Famine of 1315–1317, attributed to unremitting rains, driving winds, and subsequent crop failures, is argued to have caused the deaths of up to 30 percent of the continent's population. Likewise, the Irish Potato Famine of 1841–1852, attributed to the Phytophthora infestans oomycete fungus and perhaps northern Europe's most notorious example of chronic undernourishment, ruined crops and reduced the population of Ireland by almost 3 million—a third died of starvation and associated illnesses; the rest fled. Of particular infamy is the aforesaid “terror-famine” (Holodomor) of 1932–1933 in which prohibitively high grain quotas were set for the Ukrainian peasantry by the Russian leader Joseph Stalin. The goals of this program were to rebuild the Soviet state through undermining the social fabric of Ukrainian national resistance and resulted in the loss of an estimated minimum of 12 million people.

Famine and Poverty

Like pre-twentieth-century famines in Europe, widespread food shortages in Africa, Asia, and South America were typically driven by climate and natural disasters and exacerbated by underdevelopment and a high dependence on subsistence farming. European colonialism significantly altered the trajectories of many low-income countries and with it the circumstance of famine. Colonial power often rested on ownership and access to land. Frequently, when patterns of land ownership changed following the arrival of colonial powers, majority groups within rural communities were marginalized for the benefit of a minority ruling elite. Consequently, it was repeatedly low- or no-income smallholder communities or landless laborers that became the worst affected in times of food shortage.

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