‘Is famine/starvation the result of natural catastrophes or man-made? Analyze the root causes of food insecurity in the following two countries: Bangladesh and Niger.’

Food, water, clothing, education and shelter are the basic needs for all human being. As a citizen of world’s one of the poorest country, Bangladesh, I want to explore and understand the significance of famine and starvation and how it is related with food insecurity. The paper will also study the origin of food insecurity and investigate the causes. I have chosen to research on Bangladesh and Niger, two of the low-ranked on United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) countries.

Hundreds of millions of people, concentrated toward children and elderly, are suffering due to famine and experts are expecting this number to grow if adequate measures are not taken to prevent it. Sub-Sahara African nations are mostly the victims of extreme cases of famine but other continents also have some impacts. For instance, South Asian countries heavily depend on monsoon rain that makes them vulnerable to crop failure. On the man-made side, government instability and policies also play a big role. The after effects of such event could also lead to economic failure of the population. Countries with uncontrolled population, for instance Bangladesh and India, also suffer from extreme form of malnutrition and hunger as it becomes day by day difficult to produce adequate food for local citizens. In such cases, government asks for foreign aid to stabilize the situation.

When food security is concerned, one of major point to ponder is food availability. This includes domestic production, security stocks, imports and foreign food aids. So it is clear that government has more or less control over the food security depending on the policies has been implemented. Food insecurity may lead to rise in food price that ultimately cause famine and starvation. As Bangladesh and Niger both developing nation and heavily dependent on its agriculture, the aftermath could be catastrophic. Therefore, it is vital to develop to appropriate strategy to improve food security and identify the roots of such incidents.

Brief description of the Research Plan: * The paper will show listings of all possible reasons for famine and starvation. Further investigations will examine the countries political conditions. How many people are directly and indirectly suffering from the consequences of such events will be discussed. * Despite of foreign aid from rich countries and international organizations, countless people are starving to death. In the research paper, I will also try to assess how government played their role by spending those aids on such crisis moments. * Details will be collected from various journals, including international organization’s website on food security and dig out the origins of food insecurity. In this case, I have chosen Bangladesh and Niger.

Preliminary Bibliography
Citation style: American Psychological Association (APA), 6th Edition