Assignment 2: Whitepaper on Food Security Due Week 7 and worth 110 points The members of the  United Nations found great value in the whitepaper you provided on  population growth. They are now asking you to expand the whitepaper to  include global food security as it relates to population growth and  poverty. Read the overview and provide an assessment based on the  questions below.  I. Overview             We  can define global food security as the effort to build food systems  that can feed everyone, everywhere, and every day by improving its  quality and promoting nutritional agriculture (1). That said, there are  certain practices that can advance this project: Identifying the underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition Investing in country-specific recovery plans Strengthening strategic coordination with institutions like the UN and the World Bank Encouraging developed countries to make sustained financial commitments to its success  We  must bear in mind that more than 3 billion people—nearly one-half of  the world’s population—subsist on as little as $2.50 a day, with nearly  1.5 billion living in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day.  According to the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and  other relief agencies, about 20,000 people (mostly children) starve to  death in the world every day, for a total of about 7 million people a  year. In addition, about 750 million (twice the population of the United  States) do not have access to clean drinking water, meaning that some  one million people die every year from diarrhea caused by water-borne  diseases. The  earth’s population has grown since it reached 7 billion in 2010. It is  expected to reach 8 billion in 2025, 9 billion in 2040, and 11 billion  by the end of the 21st century (2). If the demand for food is  predicted to rise 50% by 2030 and 70% by 2050, the real problem is not  necessarily growing enough food, but rather making that amount available  to people. Moreover, food illnesses are prevalent, with nearly 600  million reported cases of foodborne diseases each year. These mainly  affect children but can also negatively impact the livelihood of  farmers, vendors, trade associations, and ultimately, can reduce the  Gross Domestic Product (national income) of a country. These issues can  impose tremendous human, economic, social, and fiscal costs on  countries, so addressing them allows governments to devote more  resources to making desperately needed infrastructure improvements that  raise the quality of life for everyone. It  is not enough to have adequate supplies of food available. Policies  that focus exclusively on food production can exacerbate the problem,  particularly if, to satisfy the need for quantity, the quality of the  food is left wanting.  Reasons for Food Insecurity Certainly,  poverty and the contributing systemic internal conditions are the  driving factors behind keeping adequate food resources from reaching  people, but i.

1. Assignment 2: Whitepaper on Food Security
Due Week 7 and worth 110 points
The members of the United Nations found great value in the
whitepaper you provided on population growth. They are now
asking you to expand the whitepaper to include global food
security as it relates to population growth and poverty. Read
the overview and provide an assessment based on the questions
below.
I.
Overview
We can define global food security as the effort to build food
systems that can feed everyone, everywhere, and every day by
improving its quality and promoting nutritional agriculture (1).
That said, there are certain practices that can advance this
project:
Identifying the underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition
Investing in country-specific recovery plans
Strengthening strategic coordination with institutions like the
UN and the World Bank
Encouraging developed countries to make sustained financial
commitments to its success

2. We must bear in mind that more than 3 billion people—nearly
one-half of the world’s population—subsist on as little as $2.50
a day, with nearly 1.5 billion living in extreme poverty on less
than $1.25 a day. According to the World Health Organization,
the United Nations, and other relief agencies, about 20,000
people (mostly children) starve to death in the world every day,
for a total of about 7 million people a year. In addition, about
750 million (twice the population of the United States) do not
have access to clean drinking water, meaning that some one
million people die every year from diarrhea caused by water-
borne diseases.
The earth’s population has grown since it reached 7 billion in
2010. It is expected to reach 8 billion in 2025, 9 billion in
2040, and 11 billion by the end of the 21st century (2). If the
demand for food is predicted to rise 50% by 2030 and 70% by
2050, the real problem is not necessarily growing enough food,
but rather making that amount available to people. Moreover,
food illnesses are prevalent, with nearly 600 million reported
cases of foodborne diseases each year. These mainly affect
children but can also negatively impact the livelihood of
farmers, vendors, trade associations, and ultimately, can reduce
the Gross Domestic Product (national income) of a country.
These issues can impose tremendous human, economic, social,
and fiscal costs on countries, so addressing them allows
governments to devote more resources to making desperately
needed infrastructure improvements that raise the quality of
life for everyone.
It is not enough to have adequate supplies of food available.
Policies that focus exclusively on food production can
exacerbate the problem, particularly if, to satisfy the need for
quantity, the quality of the food is left wanting.
Reasons for Food Insecurity

3. Certainly, poverty and the contributing systemic internal
conditions are the driving factors behind keeping adequate food
resources from reaching people, but it is only one of several.
Others are discussed next.
Inadequate Food Distribution
: The reality is that there is more than enough food in the world
to feed its people, but the primary cause of famine is not poor
weather conditions as much as it is getting the food to the
people who need it most. Quite often, disruptions in food
distribution result from political instability and poor
infrastructure (such as poorly functioning port facilities, lack
of transportation options, and inadequate road networks).
Paradoxically, although the world’s population is increasing,
the amount of potential food available will increase along with
it, due mostly to advances in bio-agricultural engineering and
seed immunity to molds.
Writing in the late 18th century, Thomas Malthus warned that
the global population would exceed the earth’s capacity to
grow food, in that while the population would grow
exponentially, food production would grow only arithmetically.
Although this theory was proved invalid, its propagation has
unfortunately resulted in some governments rationalizing
political choices that avoid helping the poverty-ridden and
starving.
Political-Agricultural Practices:
The widespread use of microbiological, chemical, and other
forms of pesticides in food continues to be a serious issue
throughout the global food chain. Widespread use of fertilizers
also causes illness in millions of people every year, not only
from the food itself, but from run-off into streams and rivers,
contaminating entire water supplies. The human, social, fiscal,
and economic costs of such practices impede improvements not
only in the raising of crops, but in their distribution. Added to

4. this, the rising demand in developed countries for biofuels,
refined mostly from corn and soybean, reduces the amount of
arable land devoted to producing food.
The failure of many farmers in the developing world to rotate
their crops harms the replenishing of nutrients necessary to
continue growing crops. In addition, neglecting to allow land to
remain fallow exhausts the soil, making it much more difficult
to raise a decent amount of food per acre the following growing
season.
Economic Issues
: The fact is, government policies that focus on growing cash
crops, for example, are designed solely to export them to earn
foreign exchange. This may be fine for the government in its
effort to earn money, but the result is that farmers end up
growing for foreign markets and not domestic ones, leading to
shortages of necessary staples. Consequently, the poorest of the
population are frozen out of the local markets because they
cannot afford the food that remains to be sold (3).
Civil Strife:
Civil war can interrupt the flow of food from gathering depots,
such as ports, to distribution centers where it can be handed out
to people. During the 1990s, Somalia was particularly hard hit
by their civil war, as clans fought for control of the main port
at Mogadishu, which affected the flow of food to the rest of the
population. In this case, as with many civil wars, whoever
controls the supply of food controls the country. In failed and
failing states like Zimbabwe, Congo, Haiti, South Sudan,
Yemen, and Libya, food is very often another weapon used by
one segment of the population against another.
Sources:
1. Peter Timmer. 2015. Food Security and Scarcity: Why Ending

5. Hunger Is So Hard. Foreign Affairs magazine.
2. The United Nations Population Division. 2017. World
Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision.
https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/world-
population-prospects-the-2017-revision.html
3. Will Martin. November 2010. Food Security and Poverty: A
Precarious Balance. Let’s Talk Development blog by The World
Bank.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/food-security-and-
poverty-a-precarious-balance
II.
Assessment
The issue is not the lack of food in the world, but the access to
food. In many developing countries, the food shortage is due to
governmental control over food. These governments maintain
control and preference by limiting access of nutritious food to
certain groups, thereby weaponizing food.
In this second assignment, research the impact of poverty on
global food security and the potential technological solutions.
Write a minimum of
four pages
(not including the cover letter) assessing the impact of food
insecurity. Select
one
country from the United Nations list of developing countries to
use as an example throughout your assessment. The completed
version of this assignment will include the following items:

6. Cover page:
Include your name, title of course, name of the developing
country you have chosen from the UN list, current date, and the
name of your instructor.
Introduction:
Introduce the topic of the whitepaper (half-page minimum).
One-page (minimum) answers to each of the following questions
(for a total of three pages):
What is food insecurity, and what role does population growth
play in it?
What specific factors interrupt the flow of food from the source
to the people in the developing country you selected?
What forms of technology can be used to reduce hunger and
improve food security? Explain how these technological
solutions would work.
Note:
Give examples in your responses to each of the above questions
as it relates to the developing country you have chosen.
Conclusion:
A one-half page (minimum) conclusion.
Cite at least five credible sources excluding Wikipedia,
dictionaries, and encyclopedias for your assessment. A brief
list of suggested resources has been provided at the end of the

7. course guide.
This course requires use of
Strayer Writing Standards (SWS)
. The format is different compared to other Strayer University
courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS
documentation for details. (
Note:
You’ll be prompted to enter your Blackboard login credentials
to view these standards.)
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
Propose a plan to address the issue of global food security in
underdeveloped countries that considers the impact of prior
solutions.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality,
logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing
skills, using the following rubric: