1. Famines and Food Shortages

2. What is a Famine? A famine is a widespread scarcity of food.
Since the start of the 21st century, more effective early warning and humanitarian response actions have reduced the number of deaths by famine markedly

3. Causes of Famine Crop failure Droughts or floods Population imbalance
Government mismanagement
Climate change
Wars
Economic failure
Land erosion or desertification

4. Famine in Africa
Many African countries are not self-sufficient in food production
They rely on income from cash crops to import food. 
Cash Crop: a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower

5. Desertification
the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.
The Sahara spreads up to 48 kilometres per year.
Some studies have shown that Africa has lost approximately  km² of its productive agricultural land over the past 50 years.

8. The Sahel
: the semi-arid area south of the Sahara

9. Desertification in the Sahel
Very high rate of desertification and drought
Over-farming, over-grazing, over-population of marginal lands, and natural soil erosion have caused serious desertification
Very affected by global warming
The loss of topsoil means plants can be uprooted by torrential water or strong winds.

10. Human Causes of African Famines
Numerous factors make the food security situation in Africa tenuous
political instability
armed conflict
corruption
mismanagement in handling food supplies
AIDS is also having long-term economic effects on agriculture by reducing the available workforce

11. Future of Famine in Africa
In Africa, if current trends of population growth and soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025

12. Food Security
: When all people always have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their needs

13. Effects of Hunger
Humans respond to chronic hunger & malnutrition by decreasing body size (stunted growth)
This process starts in utero if the mother is malnourished and goes until the third year of life.
Leads to higher infant and child mortality
Once stunting has occurred, improved nutritional intake after the age of about two years is unable to reverse the damage.

14. Effects of Hunger contd
Stunted growth adversely affects health in 3 ways:
1) Premature failure of vital organs during adulthood.
2) Higher rate of disease
3) Defects in cognitive development

15. Next day
How we can try to solve food security and famine!