SESSION 4: PROBLEM 4. LACK OF FOOD

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

• identify a number of development indicators (amount of food, daily calorie intake, natural disasters, earthquakes, floods, famine, drought, crops and cash crops, climate, farming equipment, etc)
• categorise a number of facts which divide rich and poor countries
• make decisions about countries based upon these facts

One of the biggest problems facing the people of the Poor South is that they do not have enough food. According to scientists if we eat less than 2,200 calories a day, we are not getting enough food. A calorie is the amount of energy food gives us, for example, 125g of Greek yogurt provide us with 155kcal.

There are many reasons why countries do not have enough food. NATURAL DISASTERS such as earthquakes and floods sometimes affect how much food we have. Natural disasters can sometimes lead to FAMINE or DROUGHT.

WHY DO SOME COUNTRIES NOT HAVE ENOUGH FOOD?

“In my country there is a lot of WAR. It has been like this for many years. Our crops don’t get the chance to grow.. Also the government don’t help us because they spend all their money on weapons.”

“In our country the CLIMATE is either very cold, hot, dry or wet. This makes it very difficult to grow crops to eat. We also don’t have the UP-TO-DATE FARMING EQUIPMENT. Most of our farming is done by hand.”

“My country OWES A LOT OF MONEY to other rich countries, so the government forces us to grow CASH CROPS. These are crops that other countries want to buy, such as coffee, tea, tobacco and cocoa. If the government can sell these crops, it helps to pay off some of our debts.”

Write your answers in the boxes!

1. According to the scientist, what is the minimum number of calories per day a person needs to survive?

2. Study the table, and use it to complete the passage below: