In African context, the root cause of food insecurity is suggested to be the accessibility and affordability of food due to large margins of poverty. Today most Africans in the horn of Africa live by very low monetary value. It makes it hard for prioritizing and as food is basic, one meal a day is considered fine while others try to push it to two meals in a day, nutritional value is a jargon for another day. This brings less productivity individually, nationally and internationally as developing states progress very slow.
Genetic modified organisms as an alternative and a twist to the food security approach presents new possibilities for Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s biosafety proclamation of 2009 did not close the door to GMO’s however it made it entry and acceptability very difficult. The 2009 proclamation required the government of the origin of the GMO to be responsible for any damages to Ethiopia which was a bargain that no country would ever put itself in such a position. Following
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great institutions that saw the proclamation as an imbalance pushed for such institutions to push for the amendment of the proclamation that birthed the Biosafety bill. Ethiopia has been ranked as a wanting and lacking in food security time and time again.
One of the hungriest countries in the world and one of the most populous country in the world. Agriculture accounts for 84% of economic growth in Ethiopia inclusive of the labor personnel. It is an irony to a state that is not feeding all its people sufficiently. Genetic modified foods have been rebelled seriously by its government with the advice of food institution in the state.
Ethiopian patterns of Agriculture are widely affected by weather conditions. However it is noble to note that Ethiopia has made significant miles when it comes to addressing the issue of food insecurity especially from 1990 to 2010. Food insecurity is a challenge faced globally; dynamics are the only diversities in this regard. Biotechnology and genetic modified foods are primary to the new modern approaches in enhancing food security and will be sought to challenge the already existing traditional breeding
techniques. The Gates foundation recognizes that agricultural enhancement in the developing world is also key to a better life. The question of Biotechnology meaning more food in Africa and other regions that are wanting in this capacity such as Asia continues to be a debate that lingers. Biotechnology is a science that deals with use of microorganisms, plants cells, animal cells or parts of cell in the production of commercial quantities of substances through techniques such as embryo transfer, tissue culture among others that are traditional genetic breeding techniques. Biotechnology cuts across a magnitude of fields economically and in societal fields. Despite various investments injected in the biotechnology research African states have remained a little skeptical in embracing its potentiality and the opportunities it offers in dealing with food security. Policies and structural institutions provide a basis on this.
Somalia is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries (Campbell). Because of the Civil War, which broke out in 1991, much of Somalia’s economy has been devastated. The war left many homeless and drove them to raise livestock as a means of survival. The economy used to be based on exports of cattle, goats, and bananas but as of early 1992 much of the economic trade had come to a halt. Now the economy is primarily based on the raising of livestock, which accounts for 40% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Alhaus). Due to overgrazing, soil erosion, and the clearing away of many trees, Somalia has very few natural resources, which have not been exploited.
There have been many famines that have greatly impacted Ethiopia. One of the famine that is very famous in Ethiopian history and World history is known as the Great Famine. Due to the lack of the support of the government and other organizations, about one million people died of starvation. The conditions of Ethiopia in the beginning of 1984 were not well. “The Ethiopian government predicted that the agricultural yield of the nation was going to be considerably lower in at the beginning of 1984 because there had been less rainfall than expected. However, preventive measures were not taken by either the government or the rest of the world to prevent the mass starva...
Naively, we human beings believe we live in the dazzling golden age of technological advancements. Only, news flash: we’re not. Global food insecurity is at an all-time high. We’re struggling to feed a population that rises as quickly as the mercury in my thermometer. As demand soars and food dwindles, the men in power only seem to grow in size: from their wallets to their waistlines. So, you must ask yourself: what’s the easiest way to produce high quality crops to satisfy our hunger and their lust for money and power? The answer: Genetic Modification. As the documentary Food Inc. suggests, the concept may be brilliant, but the outcome is abhorrent.
Niger has faced persistent food insecurity for quite some time. Their increasing food crisis has only been worsened by their climate change, desertification, and population growth.
Genetic modification (GM), also known as genetic engineering and recombinant DNA technology, is a process that involves combining DNA, and later inserting the newly recombined DNA into cells to be expressed through protein synthesis. The use of this technology in food can result in both positive and negative consequences. Genetic modification of food can aid first world countries by improving the economy and increasing food supplies, and third world countries, by resolving the issue of nutrient deficiency. In spite of that, genetic modification of food can also have negative effects. These include disruption of the food chain and biodiversity, the production of new, unfamiliar allergens, and even economical decline. Currently, genetically modified food is permitted for use and importation in Australia (Benefits of gene technology, n.d.), which raises the question, whether the genetic modification of food can only have positive outcomes for today’s consumers.
Gundersen, Waxman, Engelhard, and Brown (2010) found in their study that 50 million people (including 17 million children) were food insecure in 2010. Poverty and food insecurity affects the lives of billions of people worldwide and millions of people in the United States. More than two billion pe...
As low socioeconomic status exacerbates the risk of experiencing food insecurity, the compounding cost of high cost of living and food prices also contributes to the risk of food insecurity.
We live in a world that is constantly changing and advancing thanks to technological advancements, especially in the field of molecular genetics. Today, we are discovering and implementing new ways to overcome the ill-fated symptoms developed as a result from poor health or accidents. We are also making advancements in the field of agriculture thanks to molecular genetics. As we all know, food is an essential entity in our lives and is abundant as well as relatively easy to obtain here in the United States. However, as good as it may sound, this is not necessarily true for developing countries. Many people in developing countries receive very little food, if any, due to its scarcity. It is estimated that in Asia alone, close to 800 million people go to bed hungry every night due to food shortage. This problem can be alleviated by turning to the production of genetically modified organisms (a.k.a. GMOs).
For centuries, man has found ways to manipulate nature and to select crops for more desirable traits. If society were to stumble across a technology that would further advance these selections, it could quite possibly and significantly reduce the number of starving and malnourished people in the world while at the same time benefit the producers. “The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimate that farmers will have to produce 70% more food by 2050 to meet the needs of the world's expected 9-billion-strong population. That amounts to one billion tons more wheat, rice and other cereals.” Less than one per cent of the American population is responsible for growing and harvesting all of the food for this country alone. The demand overseas for American produce varies depending upon the product, but overall exceeds the supply. On the forefront of this worldwide embittering battle to end world hunger and provide cost-effective medicine, society has stumbled across the answer known as biotechnology and genetically engineered organisms. In the end, we shall see that the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a cause of continuous debate. What would be the purpose of producing genetically altered food? Many argue that GMOs could prove to be very beneficial, the use of GMOs could lead to advances in medicine, and agriculture, and they could also prevent famine in poor underdeveloped countries. Genetic modification offers many benefits: pest control, disease resistant crops, drought resistant crops, no use of insecticides, nutritional beneficial foods, and less contamination. This is only a short list of the many benefits offered by the used of GMOs. With so many benefits why are we opposed to such a miracle? (NERC 2005)
In the United States of America, the richest nation of the world, one in six Americans do not have enough food to eat. Have you ever wonder why there are so many food banks and food pantries throughout the country? They are not simply, as you thought, existent to offer emergency food assistance. Indeed, they are the main sources of food to millions of food-insecure Americans. Food insecurity, the state of not having sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food, has been very widespread and common in America. It affected millions of Americans and has been increasing dramatically in recent years; in 2012, more than 48 millions of food-insecure Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (McMillan). The depth
Developed countries, like the United States, must face the consequences of presenting GM crops to Third World countries and must offer to solve any problems with honest and just solutions. Developed countries can then truly say that they are responsible leaders of the world. Works Cited Anderson, Clifton. The "Genetic Engineering" The Futurist. The.
Ethiopia is a vast country with a long history. It’s 94 million people form an integral part of the horn of Africa. For decades the Ethiopian government, numerous international organisations and individuals, have struggled with the recurrent problem of food insecurity. Despite positive contributions in times of emergencies, food aid and other humanitarian interventions can create dependency, weaken innovation, disrupt food prices and undermine the market for local foods. In order to systematically address these chronic problems, the Ethiopian governments and major international donors have been working to redesign the way food aid and development assistance is directed. There is a large body of scientific research that shows that poverty and
Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.
Since human population has increased dramatically, the demand for food is increasing also to fulfil the myriad population. Moreover, climate changes caused the natural disasters like flood and drought to happen more often, resulting in uncontrollable disruption to crops and livestocks. Hence, to overcome these problems, scientists come out with a solution, Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) which is also known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). One of the intentions of LMOs is to overcome food crisis. Genetically modified (GM) crops are designed to enhance their qualities such as longer storage, higher crops yield, ability to grow larger, and reduced cost in aspect of food production, need for herbicides and insecticides as well as higher nutritional value. Another concern is that LMOs nowadays are associated with pharmaceutical value, for example, vaccination does not need to be done via injection but we can have vaccines get into our bodies by the practice of LMOs consumption in the near future.