Topic: Dying from hunger-Starvation Problem in Somalia
Poverty of Africa is a Global issue in the world. Recently, worldwide poverty has been fallen from 40% to below 20%. However, it is not the case of Africa. Nowadays, still more than 40% of people living in sub-Saharan African live in absolute poverty. (Our Africa, 2013) ‘More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, 300 million are children. Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.’ (Africaw, 2009) People in Africa are suffering from famine which may lead to death. Somalia is one of the poor countries in Africa. It is located in the northeast of Africa. 12.4 million people in Somalia need emergency food assistance (Mofa,2011). Food shortage problem is severe. Somalis heavily rely on crops and livestock. Due to continuing droughts, crops and livestock die. It makes the problem of starvation become even serious. (Wright J., Ford H., 1992) The problem of starvation in Somalia can be solved by donation and introducing better farming method.
Continuing drought leads to food shortage and hence the starvation. Somalia is located near the equator; therefore, hot conditions and irregular rainfall prevail all over the year. Irregular rainfall leads to droughts. In 2011, severe droughts has been affecting Somalia, causing food crisis. ‘The crisis has been brought on by a deadly combination of severe drought, with no rain in the region for two years.’(Lama H, Olivia K., 2011) In Somalia, people rely heavily on agriculture for food. However, because of severe droughts, crops are being prevented to be harvest. Moreover, with less rainfall, livestock lack water and die. People cannot provide food for themselves anymore. On the other hand, there is a huge spike in food prices because of food shortage. (Lama H, Olivia K., 2011)