Broken Food System Issues Assignment Help
Discuss how the issues associated with broken food systems might be understood as a wicked problem
The overall management of consumer economics within the sector of household is a very complex process, unfolding a global market which is very much complex (Hira, 2009). The society is facing a great challenge in human history how to feed ten billion people sustainably for more than half a century, at the same time making sure that a lot of food is wasted. This can be identified as a wicked problem as the importance of these unevenly distributed and the wastage of food around the world (Hillbert, 2010). ‘Wicked’ doesn’t mean these problems are inherently evil, instead it acknowledges that these types of problems are resistant to resolution. This clearly doesn’t mean that one cannot move a long way toward resolving the problem but in simple words there is no endpoint to it.
Around the world, more than 30% of the food is waste, more than 1 billion people have to sleep while starving where as on the other hand in the developed nations, many food stores have to throw their food just in order to make sure that they don’t loose their customers. In 2010, the famine in Somalia shouldn’t have happened, it can be considered as the first ever famine that happened in the 21st century, main reason for its occurrence is because we are producing more food than it is required (Law. A, 2011).
The problem here is not the hopeless governments around the world, but investment is being made in the people who grow the food, the international community responsible for the wastage of food waits until it is too late. Shipping of food from developed nations to undeveloped countries in order to avoid starvation has become necessary, this can easily be considered as broken food problem (Law. A, 2011).
Along with the environmental crises, broken food system both are creating millions hungry, at present the food system is currently being placed under intense pressure due to climate change, ecological degradation & rising energy prices (Balzan. M, 2011).
In this way we find a main cause for the broken food chains in the western develop nations, as food prices are spiraling upwards they are at the same time pushing more and more people into poverty and hunger both in the develop world and outside of it as globalization brings this problems to the already famine stricken underdeveloped world.
Poorer countries around the world are experiencing greater food inflation than higher-income economies, especially in the case of Kyrgyzstan, where the neediest 10 percent of the population occupies more than 70 percent of its budget on food, food price inflation in 2010 was 27 percent (Blua. A, 2011).
In order to be able to deal with broken food issue, a multilateral system of food reserves, promotion of biofuels should be end, a proper speculation on the international food market.
Wicked problems have no stopping rule (Conklin 2005), broken food system can be considered as one of the most prime example of this as it is constantly evolving and even people at the forefront of the industry are unsure of what will come next.
References:
Hilbert, M. 2010, ‘When is cheap, cheap enough to bridge the digital divide?’, World
Development, The Multi-Disciplinary International Journal Devoted to the Study and
Promotion of World Development, vol. 38, pp. 756-770.
Hira, T. (2009, December). Personal finance: Past, present and future [Networks Financial
Institute Policy Brief]. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana State University. Retrieved from
http://www.networksfinancialinstitute.org/Lists/Publication%20Library/Attachments/153/
2009-PB-10_Hira.pdf
Law. A, 2011, ‘The world’s food system is Broken. Aid will not fix it’, viewed on 19th March 2013 < http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2850828.html>
Balzan. M, 2011, ‘Food System broken, Oxfam warns’, viewed on 19th March 2013, < http://www.earthtimes.org/going-green/food-system-broken-oxfam-warns/939/>
Blua. A, 2011, ‘Oxfam Urges Reform Of ‘Broken Food System’, viewed on 20th March 2013, http://www.rferl.org/content/oxfam_says_food_prices_to_double_by_2030/24210667.html
Conklin, J. 2005, Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked
Problems, Wiley.
