MAHATMA GANDHI

Famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly

accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic,
and increased mortality.

Famine is induced by a human population beyond the regional

carrying capacity to provide food resources.

Historically, famines have occurred because of drought, crop

failure, pestilence, and man-made causes such as war or
misguided economic policies
 CROP FAILURE (e.g, due to weather, flood)

 OVERPOPULATION

 POOR GOVERNANCE / POVERTY

 POLITICAL STRIFE / WAR

 • A report by 2,500 of the world’s
top climate scientists paints a
bleak picture of drought,
disease, floods, storms, sea level
rise and crop failure for the
future.

• By 2020, between 75 and 250

million people in Africa are
projected to be exposed to an
increase of water stress and
poorer harvest due to climate
change.

Barren land in Malawi:

Climate change hits the poorest the most.
  The failure of a harvest or
the change in conditions,
such as drought, can create a
situation whereby large
numbers of people live in an
area where the carrying
capacity of the land has
dropped radically.

 Famine is then associated

primarily with subsistence
agriculture, that is, where
most farming is aimed at
producing enough food
energy to survive.
Refugee Camp in Zimbabwe
 Famine is sometimes a problem of food
distribution and poverty.

 In certain cases, such as the Great

Leap Forward, North Korea in the
mid-1990s, famine was the result of
unintentional change in government
policy.
 Famine is sometimes used as
a tool of repressive
governments as a means to
eliminate opponents, as in
the
Ukrainian famine of the 1930s
.

 In other cases, such as

Somalia, famine is a
consequence of civil
disorder as food distribution
systems break down.
Civil War has torn apart Somalia
 Weight Loss in Adults and
Retarded Growth in Children
 Permanent Physical and Mental
Damage
 Epidemic of typhus and plague
 Diarrhea, Measles,
Tubercolosis
 Population Migration
 Mortality

Nitrogen fertilizers, new pesticides, desert farming,
and other agricultural technologies began to be used
as weapons against famine.


Simple step of creating short-term employment for
the worst-affected groups, thus ensuring a minimal
amount of income to buy food, for the duration of the
localized food disruption.
120

100

80
Population
60
Food
40 Production
20

0
1965 1975 1985 1995
Despite the fact that Mauritius is part of the
African Continent, fortunately the island has
never had any famine.

There is enough and good food in the country

and up to now there has been almost no cases
of malnutrition, but the eating habits of the
younger generations are disastrous.
Major famine still persists in Africa