The Recent Global Food Crisis and Obesity Epidemic

It is evident that populations around the world are starkly staring at a food crisis that has picked momentum especially since 2008. This recent global food crisis has placed staple grains, the main sustenance for populations around the world, out of reach of the hundreds of millions of people in need of them. This has seen its effects being felt in both developed and developing countries (Magdoff, 2006: 1-7). This study will focus its attention on the explanation about this recent food crisis, how it reflects previous agri-food system tendencies and its relationship to diabetes, another food system problem. The thesis of this study is that the explanations behind the recent food crisis revolve around commercial (corporate-dependent) model of the global food system which makes food items vulnerable to market dynamics and hence out of reach for many individuals. This is relevant to the issue of food crisis since it attaches an economics perspective to the crisis which is especially significant given the recent global economic meltdown.

Theoretical Perspective

A closer and detailed look at the recent food crisis reveals a number of patterns and insights that can be supported by theoretical perspectives to show that it is a consequence of the established food policy. First of all, the food crisis does not necessarily stem from low production since the advent of chemical and biological technology in food production makes the processes more optimized. Instead, it is due to shifting economic and political power throughout the stages of food production and distribution. Emphasis is being placed on food production and distribution in terms of where maximum profitability will be achieved. This can be seen in situations where bumper harv...

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...cal perspectives given to the effect that a corporate-dependent system in the agri-food sector precipitated the global food crisis which is the thesis of this study. This demonstrated through empirical evidence indicating that production of grain is actually sufficient, but then gets diverted to other uses such as biofuel production and feeding animals to meet the rising consumption of meat. This places the blame squarely on the retailers who happen to be strong corporate entities resulting from capitalistic inclination. A strange phenomenon is observed where southern states in the USA are experiencing higher rates of obesity, which is still linked to corporatization of the food system. The limitations of this research center on the fact that it did not seek information from the corporate world which could perhaps give perspectives from the other side of the coin.