Malawi: A Nation Going Hungry Flashcards
• Despite another poor harvest, how will Agnes and Scotland manage (~7:55-9:01)? How were NGOs coming to the area helpful?
o everyone sticks together, in the village they can produce most of what they need. They manage to yield more crop using a pump – irrigate their farm= larger yield. The NGO’s gave them tools and seeds, as well as instructions. They now farm and produce more.
• Briefly describe how the international lenders, who claim to have come to the aid of Africa, have entrenched poverty (~10:05-11:15). How has this impacted food security?
o The international monetary fund gets guaranteed repayment; thus, health and education budgets are slashed to allow for this. Food subsidies that provided a safety net were abolished by the imf and donor funds can only be accessed by signing up for the PRGF – was then suspended, leading to food insecurity as it is not profitable for the private sector
• Small farmers account for 80% of the Malawi’s food production. What was the Malawi government’s plan to kick start a path to food security (~11:35-13:30)? How did the World Trade Organization (WTO) thwart these plans by the Malawi government? How does this contrast with the agricultural subsidies in the West?
o In 2000 the government gave each farmer with a starter pack with seeds and fertilizer to kickstart food security. The WTO declared them a state subsidy and took them away. However, the US and EU are allowed agricultural subsidies that give their farmers an unfair advantage.
• Briefly describe the relationship of hunger to the AIDS pandemic in Malawi (~14:25-16:25). What has been the impact on young children?
o Sex in return for cash or food because of no alternative livelihood has resulted in an aids pandemic. Husbands and their wives die, resulting in over a million orphans in the country.
• Briefly describe how hunger can destroy the environment (~17:49-20:20). Besides the concern for the soil, what is the nutritional impact of monocropping maize (i.e., how does nsima offer a “mirage of satisfaction”)?
o To earn money for food, the people of cut down trees to make charcoal to sell, which is illegal, but there is no other work. Nsima does not have nutritional benefits, but it makes people feel full.
