Science Journal of Agricultural Research and Management

May 2012, Volume 2012, ISSN: 2276-8572

© Author(s) 2012. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Research Article

 

Subsistence Farming: Antidote to Famine and Food Insecurity

Olawuyi Oluseye M.1 , Olawuyi Oluwasanjo J.2

1College of Basic and Applied Sciences, Rhema University, Aba
2Department of Computer Science, School of Science and Industrial Technology (SSIT) Abia State Polytechnic, Aba. Nigeria

Accepted 05 April 2012; Available Online 05 May, 2012.

doi: 10.7237/sjarm/102

Abstract:

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Emergency measures in relieving famine primarily include providing deficient micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, through fortified sachet powders or directly through food supplements. Aid groups have begun to use a famine relief model based on giving cash or cash vouchers to the hungry to pay local farmers, rather than buying food from donor countries as the latter distorts local food markets. Long-term measures include investment in modern agriculture techniques, such as fertilizers and irrigation, which largely eradicated hunger in the developed world.Minerals (largely petroleum) accounted for an increasing proportion of exports through the 1970s, increasing from 13 percent in 1955 to 35 percent in 1965, to 93 percent in 1975, and then to the peak 96 percent in 1985. The dependence on oil and a few other export commodities made Nigeria (being a consumer nation) particularly vulnerable to world price fluctuations.God blessed Nigeria with vast arid land that can accommodate all classes of plants, crops, shrubs, and roots which should be able to feed the mass populace and should still remain in the form of exports which can generate foreign exchange earnings; hence to reverse our balance of payment deficit. Nigeria has emerging, though currently underperforming manufacturing sector is the second-largest on the continent, producing a large proportion of goods and services for the West African region.

Keyword: epidemic, poverty, hunger, food availability decline (FAD), global warming

Back