Coda: Feeding the World

In: World policy journal: WPJ ; a publication of the World Policy Institute, Volume 32, Issue 2

Abstract

Food is all too often a hostage to a host of issues--security, climate, control of land and property, technology, and science. The true test of the stage of development of a nation or society is the ability to produce and distribute food. Imbalances in the supply of food can trigger or be triggered by inflation, recession, and vast disparities in employment and wealth. Here, Andelman opines that protecting nations' farmers and safeguarding their access to world markets may eventually take a back seat to protecting the land itself where food is produced, while retaining the workers who plant and harvest it. More important to feeding Africa's skyrocketing urban population is keeping people on the farms who are in a position to produce food in quantities beyond subsistence levels. Adapted from the source document.