Contents | Bottom | Lesson | Home

Activity 10, Myths of Hunger

Listed below are five "myths" about world hunger.  Each of the myths represents a misunderstanding or oversimplification of the hunger issue, according to Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins in their book, World Hunger: Twelve Myths.  After the myths, is a list of specific statements.  Decide which statements from the list could be used to contradict each myth and write them in the spaces below that myth.  (There will be three statements per myth.)

Statements:

1.     A poor farming family considers children a source of labor in the fields
       and social security for their parents' old age.
2.     In spite of technological advances such as irrigation projects, new
       improved seeds, and machinery the poor farmer is not much better off.
3.     There is enough grain to provide everyone in the world an adequate diet
       (3000 calories/day).
4.     Food aid is only a temporary solution.
5.     The issue of hunger is not a competition between developed and
       developing countries.
6.     Consumers and farmers in both rich and poor countries suffer from high
       food prices and the expanding role of large corporations in food
       production.
7.     Poor farmers in developing countries need to be given an active role in
       decisions about the land and the type of crops to be grown.
8.     Land which could be used to grow food for the population of a developing
       country has been converted to cash crops by large landowners.
9.     When families are able to have food, security and good health care, many
       will choose to have fewer children.
10.     Overpopulation is not the cause of hunger; hunger is one of the causes of
        overpopulation.
11.     In 1991, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization reported a record
        world production of staple foods.
12.     The problem is not the supply of food; it is unequal distribution of food.
13.     Sending food aid creates dependency and fosters paternalistic attitudes.
14.     Large multinational food corporations control much of the world's food
        trade.
15.     The modem methods require more investment, something only rich
        landowners can afford.

Contents | Top | Lesson | Home