Hunger in Haiti Essay

AbstractHaiti is a small Caribbean realm with serious hunger business for many years. Even in 1980s, Haiti had advance agriculture and hunger line was far from this plain. However, the local wars and conflicts happened in 1990s changed this. Agriculture was disturbed and hunger problem became more and more serious. It has been the key problem of Haitian phylogenesis so Haitian g overnment and international society have taken lots of measures to emend this situation. The major international supports were from the US and some EU countries. Plenty of data and reports show that hunger commonwealth in Haiti has been reduced a lot. Haiti will be most likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goal pronounced in 2000 by 2015.Hunger the key problem in Haitian developmentCivilization as it is known today could not have evolved, nor fuck it survive, without an adequate solid feed supply (Borlaug, 1970). However, the hunger problem troubles a quarter of the worldly concerns populat ion even in these years. The problem of world hunger is serious and has affected economic development in many countries. It is common acquaintance that victuals is the first necessity of people, but to pass the problem of feeding a population of about 6.5 billion is a big challenge to the world. Lindsay (2008) reports that food is in short supply every year because there is not enough to satisfy peoples demand in the impoverished countries. However, food security is the basis of the social development in the world. It is quite clear that a hungry country cannot make great efforts to develop the economy and purify the living standards of its people. For example, during the 3 years from 1959 to 1961, because of the food shortage, China was hesitating, virtually at a standstill, and there was little economic growth and not much of a rise in the standard of living.Therefore, solving hunger problem is vital for world but there argon still many problems demanding prompt ancestor in food supplies in the world, especially in some less-developed nations like Haiti. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) pronounced by the United Nations in 2000 called for the correspondence of people who suffer from hunger to be halved by 2015. This paper will discuss Haitis struggle to reduce hunger and explain why this country can probably meet the MDG by 2015. Although many developing countries experience hunger problems, Haitis food crisis shows the relationship between food and social stability. This country has suffered from an extremely serious food crisis these years. Plunkett (2000) reports that agriculture accounted for 30% of Haitis GDP, employing two thirds of Haitian people before 1980s.However, later the armed conflicts between Haitian opponent political factions happened in 1990s, agriculture was disrupted and hunger problem became both a rural and an urban phenomenon in Haiti. More than half of total population suffered from hunger and the percentage of rural popu lation was toweringer, about 65% of people living in countryside didnt have adequate food. Children were the population most vitiated by this long-term and intractable problem. One in three Haitian children suffered malnutrition and one in eight died before the age of five as a result (Plunkett, 2000). It was a shock that so serious the Haitian hunger problem was before the naked as a jaybird century.Because of its food crisis, Haitis social stability has been bad affected. According to Gauthier (2008), riots have happened all over Haiti in past years and many people died in hunger-related riots. Another report shows that a peaceful reflection turned into a violent incident in Port-au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti (Chatterjee, 2008). Clearly, Haitian people have stored up discontent against their government due to the food insecurity. At the same time, unstable social order and anarchy gravely undermined Haitis economy, which came to a standstill. According to Plunkett (200 0), the hunger problem caused depression in the mart and the closure of industrial and commercial enterprises prevalent in 1990s in Haiti. The factors which caused this crisis are multiple. It is necessary to analyze the complicated factors before taking any measures to solve this problem and help Haiti achieve the MDG by 2015.The long-term local wars at the end of last century had unfavorable impacts on grain production in Haiti so that the domestic supply of food fell short of demand. The decrease of rice production after wars in like manner caused Haitian peoples get income directly so more than three quarters of the rural population lived below the poverty line by 2000. There was a dramatic add in price of stable food and this caused devaluation in Haiti. To a certain extent, Haitian peoples purchase ability decreases because of their remarkably small income and the high food price, so they cannot buy enough food (Gauthier, 2008). Chatterjee (2008) points out that the cheap r ice imported from the USA caused Haitian national rice production to plummet. Because of advanced agricultural technology, American rice has many advantages such as lower price and higher nutrition. Large quantities food imports from the US in 1990s after Haitian civil wars helped people have more food but also limited the national agriculture growth in Haiti.Besides these, correspond to Gauthier (2008), the increasing demand of food by local people and reductions in rice imports because of funds burden these years are also the factors that cannot be ignored. In response to the challenges of the food crisis, the Haitian government has spared no effort to help hungry people have enough to eat since 2000. According to Gauthier (2008), Haitis new government supports the modernization of agricultural techniques and the restoration of agricultural production. The government decides to open up more wasteland and the newly reclaimed land is now saving forth bountiful crops. In country ar eas, government offers relief grain to the people who cannot afford enough food (Chatterjee, 2008). The Haitian governments efforts are effective and have accomplished a lot but the government is short of funds to give hungry people support continually, so Haiti also takes vigorous action to promote international cooperation in food security.Chatterjee (2008) reports Haiti has recently qualified for debt relief under the World Bank and International Monetary memorys Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative, and in the meantime, many of Haitis creditor countries, especially some developed countries, consider a compassionate exculpate because of Haitian domestic food difficulties. Apparently, international economic aid programs from developed countries and NGOs are of extreme importance to help Haitis government. According to Plunkett (2000) and Gauthier (2008), Haitian food crisis has improve significantly these years, the hunger population has been reduced 32% by 2007 and the go od momentum is being maintained. To meet the MDG by 2015, efforts should be continued to win aid programs from international organizations and developed countries to help Haitian people get adequate food in following years.Some international organizations such as the UN aliment and Agriculture Organization can coordinate the worlds food aid to Haiti. But Haiti cannot rely on foreign assistance and they need to suit self-reliant in the future, so the UN peacekeepers should play a bigger role in the social stabilization of Haiti so that a stable political can help Haiti restore its native agricultural production. Self-sufficiency and self-reliance are the fundamental ways to eliminate the hunger problem in Haiti. In conclusion, with the murder of different measures, an optimistic estimate suggests that the MDG will be achieved by 2015 in Haiti. Ample food is the basic human right in this world. The nations all over the world should join hands to safeguard the food security.Referenc eBorlaug, N. (1970). The green revolution, peace and humanity. Nobel Lectures. The Nobel Peace Prize Institute. Retrieved on November 12, 2008 from http//www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1970/borlaug-lecture.html/ Chatterjee, P. (2008). Haitis forgotten emergency. The Lancet, 372 (9639), pp. 615 618. Retrieved on November 12, 2008, from http//www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61259-3/ Gauthier, A. (2008). Food crisis in Haiti exposing key problems in the process of stabilization. FRIDE Comment, 782 (45), pp. 34-38. Retrieved on November 12, 2008, from PAIS International database. Lindsay, R. (2008). Haiti on the Death Plan Protesters decry high food prices and the savage cost of neoliberalism. The Nation, 286 (21), pp. 22-24. Retrieved on November 12, 2008 from PAIS International database. Plunkett, D. (2000). Food security in Haiti A case study comparing the food security frameworks of the Haitian government, the European Commission and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Retrieved on November 12, 2008 from http//pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACH663.pdf/