Comments on: We Grow Enough Food to Feed Everyone in This World, So Why Don’t We? (Part 1) http://www.citizeneconomists.com/blogs/2008/08/01/we-grow-enough-food-to-feed-everyone-in-this-world-so-why-dont-we-part-1/ Citizen Economists is an online economics magazine written by citizen journalists. These ordinary citizens provide reports and commentary on the current events affecting the economics of the fields they work in. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:28:33 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jim http://www.citizeneconomists.com/blogs/2008/08/01/we-grow-enough-food-to-feed-everyone-in-this-world-so-why-dont-we-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-362 Jim Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:24:22 +0000 http://www.amateureconomists.com/blogs/?p=195#comment-362 Thanks for this article, Stephan. Hunger is a political problem in the true sense of the word. The world's hungry will hunger no more the day that local, regional, and world leaders summon the will to work together. Jesus said the poor will always be with us. Was he a better economist than most people realize? Jesus knew that, given adequate time and resources, there is no limit to man's technological and scientific potential. Still, he said the poor will always be with us. The limits are limits of the heart: the inability of political leaders to will one thing; their inability to do unto others as they wish others to do to them. On top of distribution, tradition is another barrier to solving the world's food dilemma. I remember how excited scientists were in the 60s when new hybrid species of rice and wheat provided the opportunity to dramatically increase crop yields. But people in India wouldn't eat the rice. Indians (as I learned firsthand when I spent some time there in the 70s), share food served in a large bowl by picking clumps of rice out the bowl with their fingers. The "wonder rice" was rejected by Indian clients because it didn't clump together. I have not read anything on this in decades, but I suspect there have been similar experiences in other parts of the world. Sorry--this post is almost as long as a Joyce novel. I won't do it again--your article touched one of my buttons! Thanks for this article, Stephan. Hunger is a political problem in the true sense of the word. The world’s hungry will hunger no more the day that local, regional, and world leaders summon the will to work together. Jesus said the poor will always be with us. Was he a better economist than most people realize? Jesus knew that, given adequate time and resources, there is no limit to man’s technological and scientific potential. Still, he said the poor will always be with us. The limits are limits of the heart: the inability of political leaders to will one thing; their inability to do unto others as they wish others to do to them.

On top of distribution, tradition is another barrier to solving the world’s food dilemma. I remember how excited scientists were in the 60s when new hybrid species of rice and wheat provided the opportunity to dramatically increase crop yields. But people in India wouldn’t eat the rice. Indians (as I learned firsthand when I spent some time there in the 70s), share food served in a large bowl by picking clumps of rice out the bowl with their fingers. The “wonder rice” was rejected by Indian clients because it didn’t clump together. I have not read anything on this in decades, but I suspect there have been similar experiences in other parts of the world.

Sorry–this post is almost as long as a Joyce novel. I won’t do it again–your article touched one of my buttons!

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