Editing Famine (section)

===Food security===
{{Main|Food security}}
Long term measures to improve food security, include investment in modern agriculture techniques, such as [[fertilizers]] and [[irrigation]],<ref name=obama>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/world/europe/09food.html "Obama enlists major powers to aid poor farmers with $15 billion"], ''The New York Times'', 9 July 2009, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108114039/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/world/europe/09food.html |date=8 November 2017 }}</ref> but can also include strategic national [[food storage]].

[[World Bank]] strictures restrict government subsidies for farmers, and increasing use of fertilizers is opposed by some environmental groups because of its unintended consequences: adverse effects on water supplies and habitat.<ref name=newyorktimes>[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 "Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts"], ''The New York Times'', 2 December 2007, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108114042/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 |date=8 November 2017 }}</ref><ref name=atlantic>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jan/borlaug/borlaug.htm |title=Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity |magazine=The Atlantic |date=5 January 2016 |access-date=1 February 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Norman Borlaug.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Norman Borlaug]], father of the [[Green Revolution]], is often credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation.]]
The effort to bring modern agricultural techniques found in the [[Western world]], such as [[nitrogen]] [[fertilizers]] and [[pesticides]], to the [[Indian Sub-continent]], called the [[Green Revolution]], resulted in decreases in malnutrition similar to those seen earlier in Western nations. This was possible because of existing [[infrastructure]] and institutions that are in short supply in [[Africa]], such as a system of roads or public [[seed]] companies that made seeds available.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/world/africa/10rice.html|title=In Africa, Prosperity From Seeds Falls Short|date=10 October 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-date=27 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627094512/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/world/africa/10rice.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Supporting farmers in areas of food insecurity, through such measures as free or subsidized [[fertilizer]]s and [[seed]]s, increases food harvest and reduces food prices.<ref name=newyorktimes/><ref>{{cite journal |author=The Christian Science Monitor |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0618/p07s01-woaf.html |title=How a Kenyan village tripled its corn harvest |date=18 June 2008 |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=3 July 2008 |archive-date=19 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519063427/http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0618/p07s01-woaf.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by [[fossil fuels]] in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and [[hydrocarbon]] fueled [[irrigation]].<ref>[http://www.energybulletin.net/281.html Eating Fossil Fuels]. [[EnergyBulletin]]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611071544/http://www.energybulletin.net/281.html |date=June 11, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Soaring fertilizer prices put global food security at risk |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/05/06/fertilizer-prices-food-securtiy |work=Axios |date=6 May 2022 |access-date=15 May 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525175453/https://www.axios.com/2022/05/06/fertilizer-prices-food-securtiy |url-status=live }}</ref> The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global [[population growth]]&nbsp;— it has been estimated that almost half the people on the Earth are currently fed as a result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Erisman |first1=Jan Willem |last2=Sutton |first2=Mark A. |last3=Galloway |first3=James |last4=Klimont |first4=Zbigniew |last5=Winiwarter |first5=Wilfried |title=How a century of ammonia synthesis changed the world|journal=[[Nature Geoscience]]|pages=636–639|date=October 2008|volume=1|doi=10.1038/ngeo325|url=http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/energy/Resources/Essays/ngeo325.pdf.xpdf|issue=10|bibcode=2008NatGe...1..636E|s2cid=94880859 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723223052/http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/energy/Resources/Essays/ngeo325.pdf.xpdf|archive-date=23 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fears global energy crisis could lead to famine in vulnerable countries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/20/global-energy-crisis-famine-production |work=The Guardian |date=20 October 2021 |access-date=15 May 2022 |archive-date=9 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109213124/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/20/global-energy-crisis-famine-production |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[World Bank]] and some rich nations press nations that depend on them for aid to cut back or eliminate subsidized agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, in the name of [[privatization]] even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4678592.stm|title=Zambia: Fertile but hungry|website=BBC News|access-date=1 February 2016|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019142738/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4678592.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>