Poor governance can be a major cause of food shortages according to the document. Specifically, the document points to examples where government policy prioritized development over food security, depriving many villagers of their farmland. Additionally, civil strife and conflicts like landmines reducing farmland can stem from lack of adequate governance. While climate change and economic factors also influence food supply, the document argues that poor governance, through issues like corruption and inability to implement effective policy, remains the primary driver of food shortages given governments' direct role in large-scale food production.

1. ‘The greatest cause of food shortage is poor governance.’
Evaluate this statement with references to examples. [8m]
I agree that the greatest cause of food shortage is poor governance.
Governance is the exercise of economic and political authority to manage a country’s
affairs. However, poor governance such as corruption, policy errors and inability to
implement policy can cause food shortage.
Government can threaten food security when they priorities other
development needs of the country over ensuring food security. For example, in the
Indian state of Madhya Phradesh in 2010, 40 000 villagers were deprived of land
farming due to development of mining, a steel plant and a port. As a result of the
government’s policy, these villagers lost the means to produce their own food and
were left with extremely limited income to buy food.
Poor governance also led to civil strife where a country faces major internal
conflicts, which may led to riots , unrest or civil war . For example, landmines planted
on farmlands can reduce or completely stop food production during and after the
conflict. Sometimes, the lack of food supply is the root cause of the conflict, which
could start a vicious cycle of civil strife and shortage of food.
However there are also other factors that affect food shortage. Physical factors such
as climate change may affect food supply in the different ways. Changes in climate
may cause existing farmland to become unsuitable for farming. When global
temperatures increase, it is projected that some countries and regions will have their
food production reduced up to 50%. Due to global warming, this leads to shrinking
glaciers over the next coming years.
For example, the seasonal melting of glaciers such as those in the Himalayas
provides the river basins of major rivers in India and China with water to irrigate food
crops during the dry season. The International Panel on Climate Change reports that
these glaciers are receding rapiding rapidly and that many could melt entirely by
2035. If this continues to occur and entire ice melts, it affects agrarian (farmer)
society badly. There will be less water during dry season, leading to smaller harvest
for farmers. Hence less food is produced, creating food shortages.
Other factors such as economic factor can also lead to food shortage. As part
of the food policy, the government may stockpile food staples to ensure sufficient
food supplies during times of emergency. This may cause food shortage in other
countries. This is also an example of poor governance. For example, Algeria bought
800000 tonnes of wheat in January 2011 to add to its stockpile. However this caused
other LDCs to react and do the same. Overall, it caused the global price to increase,
which worsened the problem of food shortage in some LDCs.
Another economic factor is the soaring cost of fertilisers and transport. This
can directly affect the cost of food. As the cost of fertiliser increases, the cost of the
producing food will also increase and lead to increase in food prices. Oils are partly
responsible for the increase in the price of fertilisers as well as transport. For
instance, in March 2011, increase in world crude oil has forced Kazakhstan to

2. increase the price of wheat exported to neighbouring Tajikistan. This increase in food
prices are generally transferred to the consumers. Causing a greater impact on the
poor masses, especially in LDCs, who may not able to afford to buy food at usual
quantity and price, leading them to face food shortages.
Food production can be affected by many factors. However, as the
government has a direct influence on food production on a large scale, I feel that
poor governance is still the greatest cause of food shortage.