Famine
Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.
If current trends of soil degradation continue in Africa, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
As of late 2007, increased farming for use in biofuels, along with world oil prices at nearly $100 a barrel, has pushed up the price of grain used to feed poultry and dairy cows and other cattle, causing higher prices of wheat (up 58%), soybean (up 32%), and maize (up 11%) over the year.
Food riots have recently taken place in many countries across the world. An epidemic of stem rust, which is destructive to wheat and is caused by race Ug99, is currently spreading across Africa and into Asia
One of the proportionally largest historical famines was that of the Great Famine in Ireland.
Famines can cause the following:
Malnutrition
Starvation
Epidemic
May also cause:
Societal breakdowns, looting, and riots
During a famine you will be faced with the rule of 3's basic survival skills
Protect yourself
Learn how to grow food
Save seeds
Learn how to hunt
Store food and water
Take care of the land
Learn weather and cloud patterns
Arm yourself
Take vitamins
Relocate
Arm yourself
If current trends of soil degradation continue in Africa, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
As of late 2007, increased farming for use in biofuels, along with world oil prices at nearly $100 a barrel, has pushed up the price of grain used to feed poultry and dairy cows and other cattle, causing higher prices of wheat (up 58%), soybean (up 32%), and maize (up 11%) over the year.
Food riots have recently taken place in many countries across the world. An epidemic of stem rust, which is destructive to wheat and is caused by race Ug99, is currently spreading across Africa and into Asia
Definitions of famines are based on three different categories – these include food supply-based, food consumption-based and mortality-based definitions. Some definitions of famines are:
- Blix – Widespread food shortage leading to significant rise in regional death rates.
- Brown and Eckholm – Sudden, sharp reduction in food supply resulting in widespread hunger.
- Scrimshaw – Sudden collapse in level of food consumption of large numbers of people.
- Ravallion – Unusually high mortality with unusually severe threat to food intake of some segments of a population.
- Cuny – A set of conditions that occurs when large numbers of people in a region cannot obtain sufficient food, resulting in widespread, acute malnutrition.
One of the proportionally largest historical famines was that of the Great Famine in Ireland.
Famines can cause the following:
Malnutrition
Starvation
Epidemic
May also cause:
Societal breakdowns, looting, and riots
During a famine you will be faced with the rule of 3's basic survival skills
Protect yourself
Learn how to grow food
Save seeds
Learn how to hunt
Store food and water
Take care of the land
Learn weather and cloud patterns
Arm yourself
Take vitamins
Relocate
Arm yourself
The stem, black or cereal rusts are caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis and are a significant disease affecting cereal crops. An epidemic of stem rust on wheat caused by race Ug99 is currently spreading across Africa, Asia and most recently into Middle East and is causing major concern due to the large numbers of people dependent on wheat for sustenance. The strain was named after the country where it was identified (Uganda) and the year of its discovery (1999). It spread to Kenya, then Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen, and is becoming more virulent as it spreads. Scientists are working on breeding strains of wheat that are resistant to UG99. However, wheat is grown in a broad range of environments. This means that breeding programs would have extensive work remaining to get resistance into regionally adapted germplasms even after resistance is identified.
