Good Essay About Achieving The Global Food Security Goals

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The wide gap between the Global North and the Global South has long been the subject of discussion among the think tanks, activists, and the broad civil society. Many have posed solutions on how to bridge the gap specifically on the issue of food. The access for food in the Global South or the developing countries is in dire situation. The global society had set targets on how to alleviate the situation that is called the Global Food Security Goals. Aids from the Global North or the developed countries has been outpouring to the Global South like Africa and Asia with the aim to achieve the food security goals by 2015 and beyond. Beyond the aid and other programs towards achieving the said goals is the model of development being followed world-wide. The model is called the Demographic Transition Model which is apt for monitoring the development of countries from pre-industrial to industrialized countries.
The Demographic Transition Model began from a theory developed by Warren Thompson who is an American demographer. Thompson developed the theory using his observations on the birth and death rates in several countries in the span of 200 years. Alberich in her online article stated that the theory has been popularly used elsewhere in the world to explain the relations of population and the development of a society from pre-industrial to industrial. The basic principle of the theory is that, as the society develops into an industrialized society, death rate slows as the access to food and health services are improved. On the other hand, birth rate also slows as women and men will have better access to education.
Crossman (2015) explained some of the stages of the Demographic Transition Model. The first stage she stated can be described as a society with high rates of death and birth. Alberich mentioned that the said stage is called the “ancient regime demography.” She expounded that it is a stage where death rates is significantly higher than birth rate. This situation she added is not only caused by adverse situations like wars, epidemics, and hunger but more because of structural problem. Alberich characterized the structural problem as the lack of social services like health, food, and education. The second stage is called the “beginning of the transition” where death rates dramatically drop because of the access to food and sanitation. Crossman also mentioned that it is in this stage that population bloats as there is no change in the birth rates while death rates drop. In the third stage called the “end of transition,” it birth and death rates starts to level off due to the fall of birth rate. It is in this stage Crossman explained that there is access to contraception and education especially for women. Urbanization and increase in wages are in place. The fourth stage is called the “modern demographic regime” where in a society reaches a situation having a very low birth rate. The population however might not drop due to longer life expectancy. The population might shrink because of lifestyle that leads to obesity and shorter life span. Alberich mentioned that this stage is also described as post-industrial stage.
As a point in case, Germany rose up to the fourth stage in the demographic transition model. It is now one of the countries in the Global North having a low fertility. In 2011, the fertility reached as low as 1.4 per woman. In the communist East Germany, they are implementing what they call, the pronatalist policy that gives maternity leave, family allowances, and childcare subsidies. The food production in the said country has also reached a level security. On the other hand, gender inequality is very low as both men and women are well represented in all aspects of society. Their roles in production are almost equal.
Meanwhile in Uganda, it has just entered the demographic transition. It is starting to cut the mortality rate but the fertility is still on the rise explaining its ballooning population. Germany will fade in comparison in terms of fertility with Uganda’s fertility rate at 7.1 per woman. But in terms of mortality, Germany which is already in the fourth stage of transition has a very low mortality rate. With the presence of better food production, death due to hunger is lessened in Uganda. In terms of gender equality, Uganda has a glaring inequality in education. According to the Population Reference Bureau, Uganda men at the age of 20 have higher levels of education than Uganda women of their age. Women empowerment up to this day is still elusive in Uganda due to the fact that men hold most of the powers of decision making. Because of the gender inequality, women are more vulnerable with HIV/AIDS. Women remain having the highest mortality due to HIV. The maternal situation is very poor compared with that of Germany.
The cases of Germany and Uganda alone are perfect pictures of the wide gap between the Global North and the Global South. With an objective to bridge the gap, one of the programs implemented today is the US Food Aid and Security run by the USAID for over 60 years. It has an objective of promoting food security in the developing countries. The program believes that there is food security when all people have access to adequate food that meets their dietary needs. It is implemented in a dole out manner to relieve those who are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. The aid from US is only one among the many programs for food security however; the developing countries remain in dire situation. It is already 2015 and questions on whether or not the development goals are achieved are the contents of intellectual discussions elsewhere.

References

Alberich, J. (2015). “World Population and Sustainable Development.” desenvolupamentsostenible.org. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Alliance for Global Food Security. (2015). “US Food Aid and Security.” Foodaid.org. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Crossman, A. (2015). “Demographic Transition.” About Education. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Population Reference Bureau. (2015). “Germany: Beyond the Demographic Transition’s End.” www.prb.org. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.
Population Reference Bureau. (2015). “Uganda: At the Beginning of the Demographic Transition.” www.prb.org. Web. 18 Jan. 2015.