Topic Explorer Overview
As a part of our college curriculum, my class has been tasked with investigating a single topic of interest pertaining to food. I’ve elected to research the effects of food distribution and outside development on undeveloped countries. No joke – when I was about 6 years old, I would wake up two hours early for school and watch those “sponsor an African child for 30 cents a day” adverts until it was time to leave. There wasn’t much else on. When I grew up, I had completely forgotten the lengths to which certain programs would go to support these kinds of efforts, and I decided it was high time to rediscover how the international hunger situation has progressed over the years.
Fortunately for me, the internet is full of eager organizations working tirelessly to get the message out, and resources regarding this topic are ripe for the picking. The consensus is something along the lines of, ‘we all want underdeveloped countries to have the power necessary to feed their people, but the international climate is too complicated for that to be easy.’ Large companies lobby to keep their products in remote markets while international relations slow agreements to an unceremonious halt. As such, concerned parties have started agricultural programs to help poor communities ease their way into international trade while creating a self-sustaining base from which they can feed their people.
This topic seems promising, but I’m a bit concerned with how hard it is to find the corporate perspective. Of course organizations dedicated to ending world hunger would start farms in underdeveloped countries, but there’s little world from the people lining the shelves in the meantime. I may need to change my thesis for this project to “agricultural development in underdeveloped countries,” since big corporations don’t seem too keen on sharing their activities in these more remote communities.
Read below for a snapshot of the kind of sources I'm using for this project!
Fortunately for me, the internet is full of eager organizations working tirelessly to get the message out, and resources regarding this topic are ripe for the picking. The consensus is something along the lines of, ‘we all want underdeveloped countries to have the power necessary to feed their people, but the international climate is too complicated for that to be easy.’ Large companies lobby to keep their products in remote markets while international relations slow agreements to an unceremonious halt. As such, concerned parties have started agricultural programs to help poor communities ease their way into international trade while creating a self-sustaining base from which they can feed their people.
This topic seems promising, but I’m a bit concerned with how hard it is to find the corporate perspective. Of course organizations dedicated to ending world hunger would start farms in underdeveloped countries, but there’s little world from the people lining the shelves in the meantime. I may need to change my thesis for this project to “agricultural development in underdeveloped countries,” since big corporations don’t seem too keen on sharing their activities in these more remote communities.
Read below for a snapshot of the kind of sources I'm using for this project!
In The News
Food Security in Developing Countries: Is There a Role for the WTO?
By Kimberly Ann Elliott, May 5, 2015
Center for Global Development
The WTO, or World Trade Organization, is a collective formed between various developed countries with the intention of regulating international trade. In the early 2000s, the WTO was tasked with tackling shifting agriculture prices, which began rewarding large producers at the expense of consumers; nowhere was this more evident than in developing countries, where a lack of exports made the increasingly expensive produce all the harder to attain. The WTO responded in 2001 with the Doha Round, a collection of proposals that parallel similar past projects (i.e. the Uruguay Round Agreement of Agriculture, which started in 1986 and ended in 1989). Unfortunately, the economic and political atmosphere around the globe has stifled progress. Developed countries are quick to defend their own companies and consumers; tariffs and other trade restrictions also provide significant resistance to reform. Countries rife with food-insecurity, such as India, have argued in favor of a more open system that emphasizes growth over economic interests. However, these plans are universally nipped in the bud by lobbying and a fear of losing economic control during the long periods of time required for proper reform. The Doha Round is still active, and has yet to reach an agreement.
Across the Globe, Our Diets Are Making Us Sicker, Report Finds
by Rhitu Chatterjee, October 8th, 2016
NPR’s “The Salt”
The last couple decades have been home to a number of programs geared directly towards tackling hunger and teaching undeveloped countries how to feed their people. This has created markets in countries like Nigeria and rural China, which are now reaping the benefits of developing economies and international trade. This includes access to temptingly delicious processed food, which has only grown more affordable with time. As a result, international health is in decline. Nigeria, which still struggles with hunger and malnutrition, has a rising obesity problem. The Chinese population is predicted to see a skyrocketing rate of obesity within the next decade. As isolated groups of people grow increasingly dependent on cheap, processed food, the effects are starting to manifest in a less than comfortable way.
How Big Food Takes Advantage of the Poor in Emerging Markets
By Marion Nestle, Jan 6th, 2012
The Atlantic
Large food companies looking to make significant profits have turned their attention on developing countries. Nestlé has starting peddling its wares in the Amazon, while Unilever is sending local vendors door-to-door in villages from Africa to India. By the early 2010s, companies were making 40% of all acquisition deals, and somewhere around 30% of sales, in developing markets. These isolated markets are east targets for low cost, high convenience items that can still be sold for profit in low-income communities that may not even have fully furnished shops to begin with. Nestlé is projected to make 45% of all sales to developing countries by 2020.
By Kimberly Ann Elliott, May 5, 2015
Center for Global Development
The WTO, or World Trade Organization, is a collective formed between various developed countries with the intention of regulating international trade. In the early 2000s, the WTO was tasked with tackling shifting agriculture prices, which began rewarding large producers at the expense of consumers; nowhere was this more evident than in developing countries, where a lack of exports made the increasingly expensive produce all the harder to attain. The WTO responded in 2001 with the Doha Round, a collection of proposals that parallel similar past projects (i.e. the Uruguay Round Agreement of Agriculture, which started in 1986 and ended in 1989). Unfortunately, the economic and political atmosphere around the globe has stifled progress. Developed countries are quick to defend their own companies and consumers; tariffs and other trade restrictions also provide significant resistance to reform. Countries rife with food-insecurity, such as India, have argued in favor of a more open system that emphasizes growth over economic interests. However, these plans are universally nipped in the bud by lobbying and a fear of losing economic control during the long periods of time required for proper reform. The Doha Round is still active, and has yet to reach an agreement.
Across the Globe, Our Diets Are Making Us Sicker, Report Finds
by Rhitu Chatterjee, October 8th, 2016
NPR’s “The Salt”
The last couple decades have been home to a number of programs geared directly towards tackling hunger and teaching undeveloped countries how to feed their people. This has created markets in countries like Nigeria and rural China, which are now reaping the benefits of developing economies and international trade. This includes access to temptingly delicious processed food, which has only grown more affordable with time. As a result, international health is in decline. Nigeria, which still struggles with hunger and malnutrition, has a rising obesity problem. The Chinese population is predicted to see a skyrocketing rate of obesity within the next decade. As isolated groups of people grow increasingly dependent on cheap, processed food, the effects are starting to manifest in a less than comfortable way.
How Big Food Takes Advantage of the Poor in Emerging Markets
By Marion Nestle, Jan 6th, 2012
The Atlantic
Large food companies looking to make significant profits have turned their attention on developing countries. Nestlé has starting peddling its wares in the Amazon, while Unilever is sending local vendors door-to-door in villages from Africa to India. By the early 2010s, companies were making 40% of all acquisition deals, and somewhere around 30% of sales, in developing markets. These isolated markets are east targets for low cost, high convenience items that can still be sold for profit in low-income communities that may not even have fully furnished shops to begin with. Nestlé is projected to make 45% of all sales to developing countries by 2020.
In The Literature
Norton, George W. Hunger and Hope. Long Grove: Waveland Press, 2014.
Norton is a Professor of Rural Development and International Trade over at Virginia Technical Institute. His book Hunger and Hope focuses on classic condition of international rural poverty. Chapters are broken into stories told from the perspective of poor farmers all over the developing world, including instances from early American families and modern Colombian farmers alike. The rhetoric throughout is thus: how can we better understand the plight of rural poverty, and what steps need to be taken to create more sustainable systems for those in need? A clear emphasis is placed on the difficulties that these undeveloped farming communities face, elaborating on health concerns and the effects hunger has on daily life. Once a reliable pathos is in place, Norton shifts into discussing the solutions, which include better education, fair representation in the international market, the creation of local markets in underpopulated areas, etc. The most interesting point the book provides is in passing – that developing communities are easily targeted by scams and private interests. Isolated communities are targeted by businesses ranging in size from local to international, who are trying to cash in on the unsuspecting, and often foolishly hopefully, populace. Unfortunately, this concept takes a back seat to discussing on developing agriculture, creating niches for small farming communities on a broader scale, and establishing a far reaching international system to the benefit of forgotten farm land.
Norton is a Professor of Rural Development and International Trade over at Virginia Technical Institute. His book Hunger and Hope focuses on classic condition of international rural poverty. Chapters are broken into stories told from the perspective of poor farmers all over the developing world, including instances from early American families and modern Colombian farmers alike. The rhetoric throughout is thus: how can we better understand the plight of rural poverty, and what steps need to be taken to create more sustainable systems for those in need? A clear emphasis is placed on the difficulties that these undeveloped farming communities face, elaborating on health concerns and the effects hunger has on daily life. Once a reliable pathos is in place, Norton shifts into discussing the solutions, which include better education, fair representation in the international market, the creation of local markets in underpopulated areas, etc. The most interesting point the book provides is in passing – that developing communities are easily targeted by scams and private interests. Isolated communities are targeted by businesses ranging in size from local to international, who are trying to cash in on the unsuspecting, and often foolishly hopefully, populace. Unfortunately, this concept takes a back seat to discussing on developing agriculture, creating niches for small farming communities on a broader scale, and establishing a far reaching international system to the benefit of forgotten farm land.
In The Media
IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute)
Food Systems: A Global Perspective – Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Feb 2018
IFPRI is a research based organization that works towards ending world hunger and creating sustainable poverty-curbing programs in developing countries. They regularly record and post live seminars, streamed seminars, private interviews, or guest lectures featuring academic experts from around the world. This particular excerpt focuses on Dr. Namukolo Covic of the International Food Policy Research Institute and Dr. Ruerd Ruben of Wageningen University in The Netherlands, talking about global nutrition in a very broad sense. They put an incredible emphasis on agricultural developments, encouraging programs that will allow independent activity in the international market while still providing a stable source of food for the local populace. A secondary emphasis is put on to food distribution, how certain countries require special attention so that healthy food may be fairly distributed in spite of cultural divides. They also mention the three largest food related problems around the world, which are becoming increasingly related: malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and obesity. Anyone keeping up with modern food news knows that obesity is ubiquitous due to the prevalence of processed foods in our daily diets; as these inexpensive options begin to make their way to less developed countries, so too do the unhealthy array of preservatives and salts that have become characteristic of the obesity epidemic. Developing countries are beginning to see growth stunting right next door to overweight children, in a startling dichotomy of the malnutrition spectrum. The solutions are generally the same: more agriculture, healthier options, and the distribution of reliable information to the most remote corners of civilization. IFPRI has a number of other podcasts, which focus on these same points in depth, as well as other advancements being made in developing countries.
Food Systems: A Global Perspective – Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Feb 2018
IFPRI is a research based organization that works towards ending world hunger and creating sustainable poverty-curbing programs in developing countries. They regularly record and post live seminars, streamed seminars, private interviews, or guest lectures featuring academic experts from around the world. This particular excerpt focuses on Dr. Namukolo Covic of the International Food Policy Research Institute and Dr. Ruerd Ruben of Wageningen University in The Netherlands, talking about global nutrition in a very broad sense. They put an incredible emphasis on agricultural developments, encouraging programs that will allow independent activity in the international market while still providing a stable source of food for the local populace. A secondary emphasis is put on to food distribution, how certain countries require special attention so that healthy food may be fairly distributed in spite of cultural divides. They also mention the three largest food related problems around the world, which are becoming increasingly related: malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and obesity. Anyone keeping up with modern food news knows that obesity is ubiquitous due to the prevalence of processed foods in our daily diets; as these inexpensive options begin to make their way to less developed countries, so too do the unhealthy array of preservatives and salts that have become characteristic of the obesity epidemic. Developing countries are beginning to see growth stunting right next door to overweight children, in a startling dichotomy of the malnutrition spectrum. The solutions are generally the same: more agriculture, healthier options, and the distribution of reliable information to the most remote corners of civilization. IFPRI has a number of other podcasts, which focus on these same points in depth, as well as other advancements being made in developing countries.