Famine causes effects and remedies UPSC

What is famine? 

Famine means an extreme scarcity of food which results in mass mortalities within a short duration time. As per the UN, there are three criteria of famine declaration:

Criteria for Famine declaration by UN

At present, in northern Africa, some disturbing countries like Yemen, Sudan, and Libya are facing famine-like problems.

Cause of famine: 

• Un availability of food due to :
• Drought :
• Uncertain Monsoon
• EL-NINO effect
• Too much rainfall
• Monsoon burst
• Cyclone
• Low productivity
• Climate change
• Excess use of fertilization leads to infertility soils
• Pest attack on the crops
• Inaccessibility of food due to:
• Political instability
• Political unwilling
• Geographical blockage
• delay in importing of food grains
• Inefficiency in distribution 
• Internal conflict
• Un affordability of food due to
• High food price
• low income
• high unemployability
• no work to do

Consequences of famine:

• The very high death rate of women and children.
• Death of animals & plants 
• Spread of disease; due to weak immune system
• Social tension; due to food and water shortage
• Disbalance of sex ratio 
• No human development
• Low fertility rate

Solutions to famine: 

Famine can be occurred by naturally or man-made but the most important thing is that humans can manage it. Famine is a local geographical problem, it is not a global problem and can be avoided if properly managed. For example, the Bengal famine in 1943 in India that led to 3 million death can be avoided by

• Timely food grains import from worldwide
• Timely supply of food grains from other parts of the country
• Proper irrigation facilities 
• If buffer stock was sufficiently buildup
• by the preference of food crop production over cash crops.
• By giving employability to the landless and poor population 

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