Editing Famine (section)

===Africa===
{{category see also|Famines in Africa}}

====Early history====
In the mid-22nd century BC, a sudden and short-lived climatic change that caused reduced rainfall resulted in several decades of drought in [[Upper Egypt]]. The resulting famine and civil strife is believed to have been a major cause of the collapse of the [[Old Kingdom]]. An account from the [[First Intermediate Period]] states, "All of Upper Egypt was dying of hunger and people were eating their children." As for recorded examples about more recent centuries: in the 1680s, famine extended across the entire [[Sahel]], and in 1738 half the population of [[Timbuktu]] died of famine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ag.arizona.edu/~lmilich/desclim.html |title=Len Milich: Anthropogenic Desertification vs 'Natural' Climate Trends |website=Ag.arizona.edu |date=10 August 1997 |access-date=1 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211081648/http://ag.arizona.edu/~lmilich/desclim.html |archive-date=11 February 2012 }}</ref> In [[Egypt]], between 1687 and 1731, there were six famines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Quataert |first=Donald |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-83910-5 |page=115}}</ref> The famine that afflicted Egypt in 1784 cost it roughly one-sixth of its population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Joseph G. |last2=Ludlow |first2=Francis |last3=Stine |first3=Alexander R. |last4=Boos |first4=William R. |last5=Sigl |first5=Michael |last6=Marlon |first6=Jennifer R. |title=Volcanic suppression of Nile summer flooding triggers revolt and constrains interstate conflict in ancient Egypt |journal=Nature Communications |date=17 October 2017 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=900 |doi=10.1038/s41467-017-00957-y |pmid=29042538 |pmc=5645420 |bibcode=2017NatCo...8..900M}}
* {{cite press release |date=22 November 2006 |title=Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt, Study Shows |website=ScienceDaily |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061121232204.htm}}</ref> The [[Maghreb]] experienced famine and [[Black Death|plague]] in the late 18th century and early 19th century.<ref>Nancy Elizabeth Gallagher (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=etf7xP841skC&pg=PA25 Medicine and Power in Tunisia, 1780–1900]''. p. 25. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-52939-5}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712112255/http://books.google.com/books?id=etf7xP841skC&pg=PA25 |date=12 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>Daniel Panzac (2005). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_dyeFP5Hyc4C&pg=PA309 Barbary Corsairs: the end of a legend, 1800–1820]''. p. 309. {{ISBN|90-04-12594-9}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916141522/https://books.google.com/books?id=_dyeFP5Hyc4C&pg=PA309 |date=16 September 2023 }}</ref> There was famine in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] in 1784, and in [[Tunis]] in 1785.<ref>Suraiya Faroqhi, Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert (1997). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire]''. Cambridge University Press. p. 651. {{ISBN|0-521-57455-2}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916141522/https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 |date=16 September 2023 }}</ref>

According to John Iliffe, "Portuguese records of [[Angola]] from the 16th century show that a great famine occurred on average every seventy years; accompanied by epidemic disease, it might kill one-third or one-half of the population, destroying the demographic growth of a generation and forcing colonists back into the river valleys."<ref>John Iliffe (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bNGN2URP_rUC ''Africans: the history of a continent'']. Cambridge University Press. p. 68. {{ISBN|0-521-68297-5}}</ref>

The first documentation of weather in West-Central Africa occurred around the mid-16th to 17th centuries in areas such as Luanda Kongo, however, not much data was recorded on the issues of weather and disease except for a few notable documents. The only records obtained are of violence between Portuguese and Africans during the [[Battle of Mbwila]] in 1665. In these documents the Portuguese wrote of African raids on Portuguese merchants solely for food, giving clear signs of famine. Additionally, instances of [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] by the African Jaga were also more prevalent during this time frame, indicating an extreme deprivation of a primary food source.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Joseph C. |title=The Significance of Drought, Disease and Famine in the Agriculturally Marginal Zones of West-Central Africa |journal=Journal of African History |date=January 1982 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=17–61 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700020235 |pmid=11632226 |s2cid=7601465 }}</ref>

====Colonial period====
[[File:Punch congo rubber cartoon.jpg|thumb|upright|A 1906 ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' cartoon depicting [[King Leopold II]] as a snake entangling a Congolese man]]
A notable period of famine occurred around the turn of the 20th century in the [[Congo Free State]]. In forming this state, Leopold used mass labor camps to finance his empire.<ref name="Masci 2002">{{cite journal |last=Masci |first=David |title=Famine in Africa |journal=CQ Researcher |date=8 November 2002 |volume=12 |issue=39 |url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |access-date=27 November 2011 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309155152/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |url-status=live }}</ref> This period resulted in the death of up to 10 million Congolese from brutality, disease and famine.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dummett |first=Mark |title=King Leopold's Legacy of DR Congo Violence |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm |access-date=27 November 2011 |date=24 February 2004 |work=BBC News |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325011812/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Some colonial "pacification" efforts often caused severe famine, notably with the repression of the Maji Maji revolt in [[German East Africa|Tanganyika]] in 1906. The introduction of cash crops such as cotton, and forcible measures to impel farmers to grow these crops, sometimes impoverished the peasantry in many areas, such as northern Nigeria, contributing to greater vulnerability to famine when severe drought struck in 1913.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Papaioannou |first1=Kostadis J. |title=Climate shocks and conflict: Evidence from colonial Nigeria |journal=Political Geography |date=January 2016 |volume=50 |pages=33–47 |doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.07.001 |hdl=1874/318818 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A large-scale famine occurred in Ethiopia in 1888 and in succeeding years, as the [[1890s African rinderpest epizootic|rinderpest epizootic]], introduced into [[Eritrea]] by infected cattle, spread southwards reaching ultimately as far as [[South Africa]]. In Ethiopia it was estimated that as much as 90 percent of the national herd died, rendering rich farmers and herders destitute overnight. This coincided with [[drought]] associated with an ''[[El Niño]]'' oscillation, human epidemics of [[smallpox]], and in several countries, intense war. The [[Famines in Ethiopia|Ethiopian Great famine]] that afflicted Ethiopia from 1888 to 1892 cost it roughly one-third of its population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccb.ucar.edu/ijas/ijasno2/georgis.html |title=El Niño and Drought Early Warning in Ethiopia |last=Wolde-Georgis |first=Tsegay  |website=www.ccb.ucar.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911102037/http://www.ccb.ucar.edu/ijas/ijasno2/georgis.html |archive-date=11 September 2007}}</ref> In [[Sudan]] the year 1888 is remembered as the worst famine in history, on account of these factors and also the [[Exaction|exactions]] imposed by the [[Muhammad Ahmad|Mahdist state]].

The [[oral tradition]]s of the [[Himba people]] recall two droughts from 1910 to 1917. From 1910 to 1911 the Himba described the drought as "drought of the omutati seed", also called ''omangowi'', the fruit of an unidentified vine that people ate during the time period. From 1914 to 1916, droughts brought ''katur' ombanda'' or ''kari' ombanda'' 'the time of eating clothing'.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Joseph C. |title=The Significance of Drought, Disease and Famine in the Agriculturally Marginal Zones of West-Central Africa |journal=Journal of African History |date=January 1982 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=17–61 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700020235 |pmid=11632226|s2cid=7601465 }}</ref>

====20th century====
[[File:Niger childhood malnutrition 16oct06.jpg|thumb|left|Malnourished children in [[Niger]], during the 2005 famine]]
For the middle part of the 20th century, agriculturalists, economists and geographers did not consider Africa to be especially famine prone. From 1870 to 2010, 87% of deaths from famine occurred in Asia and Eastern Europe, with only 9.2% in Africa.<ref name = "democracyFT">{{Cite news
|url= https://www.ft.com/content/13b15b80-0d82-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/13b15b80-0d82-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription
|title= As democracy retreats, famine makes a comeback
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|first=David |last=Pilling
|date= 22 March 2017
|access-date=1 April 2017
|format={{registration required}}}}</ref> There were notable counter-examples, such as the famine in [[Rwanda]] during World War II and the [[Malawi]] famine of 1949, but most famines were localized and brief food shortages. Although the drought was brief the main cause of death in Rwanda was due to Belgian prerogatives to acquisition grain from their colony (Rwanda). The increased grain acquisition was related to WW2. This and the drought caused 300,000 Rwandans to perish.<ref name="Masci 2002"/>

From 1967 to 1969 large scale famine occurred in Biafra and Nigeria due to a [[Nigerian Civil War|government blockade of the Breakaway territory]]. It is estimated that 1.5 million people died of starvation due to this famine. Additionally, drought and other government interference with the food supply caused 500 thousand Africans to perish in Central and West Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iliffe |first=John |title=Africans: The History of a Continent |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge}}</ref>

Famine recurred in the early 1970s, when Ethiopia and the west African [[Sahel]] suffered [[Sahel drought|drought and famine]]. The Ethiopian famine of that time was closely linked to the crisis of feudalism in that country, and in due course helped to bring about the downfall of the Emperor [[Haile Selassie]]. The Sahelian famine was associated with the slowly growing crisis of pastoralism in Africa, which has seen livestock herding decline as a viable way of life over the last two generations.

[[File:Starved girl.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A girl during the [[Nigerian Civil War]] of the late 1960s. Pictures of the famine caused by the Nigerian blockade garnered sympathy for the Biafrans worldwide.]]
Famines occurred in Sudan in the late-1970s and again in 1990 and 1998. The 1980 famine in [[Karamoja]], [[Uganda]] was, in terms of mortality rates, one of the worst in history. 21% of the population died, including 60% of the infants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8F091e/8F091E05.htm|title=Food and bulletin volume 9, number 1, march 1987|website=www.unu.edu|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=26 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226004126/http://unu.edu/unupress/food/8F091e/8F091E05.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1980s, large scale multilayer drought occurred in the Sudan and Sahelian regions of Africa. This caused famine because even though the Sudanese Government believed there was a surplus of grain, there were local deficits across the region.<ref>{{cite web |last=B. E. |first=Spiers |title=Famine in Africa |url=http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=9110094&q=Famine+in+Africa&uid=791203203&setcookie=yes |access-date=27 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823070354/http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=9110094&q=Famine+in+Africa&uid=791203203&setcookie=yes |archive-date=23 August 2012}}</ref>

In October 1984, television reports describing the Ethiopian famine as "biblical", prompted the [[Live Aid]] concerts in London and Philadelphia, which raised large sums to alleviate the suffering. A primary cause of the famine (one of the largest seen in the country) is that Ethiopia (and the surrounding Horn) was still recovering from the droughts which occurred in the mid-late 1970s. Compounding this problem was the intermittent fighting due to [[Ethiopian civil war|civil war]], the [[Derg|government]]'s lack of organization in providing relief, and hoarding of supplies to control the population. Ultimately, over 1 million Ethiopians died and over 22 million people suffered due to the prolonged drought, which lasted roughly 2 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ethiopia in Crisis: Famine and Its Aftermath 1984–1988|url=http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/35.htm|publisher=U.S. Library of Congress|access-date=29 November 2011|archive-date=12 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012005810/http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/35.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1992 Somalia became a war zone with no effective government, police, or basic services after the collapse of the dictatorship led by [[Siad Barre]] and the split of power between warlords. This coincided with a massive drought, causing over 300,000 Somalis to perish.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Masci |first=David |title=Famine in Africa |journal=CQ Researcher |date=8 November 2002 |volume=12 |issue=39 |url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309155152/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Recent years====
[[File:Maradi aidecentre Niger9aug2005 2.jpg|thumb|left|Laure Souley holds her three-year-old daughter and an infant son at a MSF aide center during the 2005 famine, Maradi Niger]]
Since the start of the 21st century, more effective early warning and humanitarian response actions have reduced the number of deaths by famine markedly. That said, many African countries are not self-sufficient in food production, relying on income from [[cash crop]]s to import food. [[Agriculture]] in Africa is susceptible to [[climate|climatic]] fluctuations, especially [[drought]]s which can reduce the amount of food produced locally. Other agricultural problems include [[Soil fertility|soil infertility]], [[land degradation]] and [[erosion]], swarms of [[desert locust]]s, which can destroy whole crops, and livestock diseases. [[Desertification]] is increasingly problematic: the [[Sahara]] reportedly spreads up to {{convert|30|mi|km|0|order=flip}} per year.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p01s02-woaf.html |title=Hunger is spreading in Africa |journal=Christian Science Monitor |date=1 August 2005 |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=23 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123114118/http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p01s02-woaf.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The most serious famines have been caused by a combination of drought, misguided economic policies, and conflict. The 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia, for example, was the outcome of all these three factors, made worse by the Communist government's censorship of the emerging crisis. In Capitalist Sudan at the same date, drought and economic crisis combined with denials of any food shortage by the then-government of President [[Gaafar Nimeiry]], to create a crisis that killed perhaps 250,000 people—and helped bring about a popular uprising that overthrew Nimeiry.

Numerous factors make the [[food security]] situation in Africa tenuous, including political instability, armed conflict and [[civil war]], [[political corruption|corruption]] and mismanagement in handling food supplies, and trade policies that harm African agriculture. An example of a famine created by human rights abuses is the [[1998 Sudan famine]]. [[AIDS]] is also having long-term economic effects on agriculture by reducing the available workforce, and is creating new vulnerabilities to famine by overburdening poor households. On the other hand, in the modern history of Africa on quite a few occasions famines acted as a major source of acute political instability.<ref>See, for example, [[Andrey Korotayev]] and [[Daria Khaltourina]] ''[https://www.academia.edu/27503953/Introduction_to_Social_Macrodynamics_Secular_Cycles_and_Millennial_Trends_in_Africa Secular Cycles and Millennial Trends in Africa]''. Moscow: 2006. {{ISBN|5-484-00560-4}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216214439/https://www.academia.edu/27503953/Introduction_to_Social_Macrodynamics_Secular_Cycles_and_Millennial_Trends_in_Africa |date=16 February 2020 }}</ref> In Africa, if current trends of [[population growth]] and [[soil retrogression and degradation|soil degradation]] continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to [[United Nations University]] (UNU)'s Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.<ref name="news.mongabay.com">{{cite web |title=Africa may be able to feed only 25% of its population by 2025 |url=http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1214-unu.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127175559/http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1214-unu.html |archive-date=27 November 2011 |work=Mongabay}}</ref>
[[File:Sahel Map-Africa rough.png|thumb|right|Famine-affected areas in the western [[Sahel]] belt during the [[2012 Sahel drought|2012 drought]].]]

Famines in the early 21st century in Africa include the [[2005–06 Niger food crisis]], the [[2010 Sahel famine]] and the [[2011 East Africa drought]], where two consecutive missed rainy seasons precipitated the one of the worst [[2011 East Africa drought|droughts in East Africa]] in 60 years.<ref>{{cite news|title=One year on, thousands flee Somalia every month, but successes too|newspaper=Unhcr|url=http://www.unhcr.org/4fce08ac6.html|access-date=5 June 2012|archive-date=5 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605224414/http://www.unhcr.org/4fce08ac6.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Twdisyihoa">{{cite web|title=The worst drought in 60 years in Horn Africa |url=http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/node/2158 |publisher=Africa and Europe in Partnership |access-date=2 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102172007/http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/node/2158 |archive-date=2 November 2011}}</ref> An estimated 50,000 to 150,000 people are reported to have died during the period.<ref>[https://world.time.com/2012/01/18/fatal-failure-did-aid-agencies-let-up-to-100000-somalis-die-in-2011/ "Fatal Failure: Did Aid Agencies Let Up To 100,000 Somalis Die in 2011?"] . ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 18 January 2012.</ref><ref name="Mafhscbafro">{{cite news |last=Warah |first=Rasna |title=Manufacturing a famine: How Somalia crisis became a fund-raising opportunity |url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How+Somalia+crisis++became+a+fund+raising+opportunity+/-/2558/1246690/-/oe8n10/-/index.html |access-date=16 March 2013 |newspaper=The East African |date=2 October 2011 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024171549/http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How+Somalia+crisis++became+a+fund+raising+opportunity+/-/2558/1246690/-/oe8n10/-/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the [[2012 Sahel drought|Sahel drought]] put more than 10 million people in the western Sahel at risk of famine (according to a [[Methodist Relief & Development Fund (MRDF)]] aid expert), due to a month-long heat wave.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12566 |title=Methodists make appeal for famine threatened West Africa |publisher=Ekklesia |date=6 July 2010 |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=7 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307152019/http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12566 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="http://www.poverties.org Famine in Africa">{{cite web|title=Famine in Africa, A Failure of the World System?|url=http://www.poverties.org/famine-in-africa.html|website=Poverties|publisher=poverties.org|access-date=26 April 2016|archive-date=25 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525174621/http://www.poverties.org/famine-in-africa.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Today, famine is most widespread in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], but with exhaustion of food resources, overdrafting of [[groundwater]], wars, internal struggles, and economic failure, famine continues to be a worldwide problem with hundreds of millions of people suffering.<ref>{{cite journal |author=The Christian Science Monitor |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0724/p01s01-wogi.html |title=Rising food prices curb aid to global poor |date=24 July 2007 |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=14 September 2007 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023091853/https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0724/p01s01-wogi.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These famines cause widespread malnutrition and impoverishment. The [[1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia|famine in Ethiopia]] in the 1980s had an immense death toll, although Asian famines of the 20th century have also produced extensive death tolls. Modern African famines are characterized by widespread destitution and malnutrition, with heightened mortality confined to young children.

====Current initiatives====
Against a backdrop of conventional interventions through the state or markets, alternative initiatives have been pioneered to address the problem of food security. One pan-African example is the [[Great Green Wall (Africa)|Great Green Wall]]. Another example is the "Community Area-Based Development Approach" to agricultural development ("CABDA"), an NGO programme with the objective of providing an alternative approach to increasing food security in Africa. CABDA proceeds through specific areas of intervention such as the introduction of drought-resistant crops and new methods of food production such as agro-forestry. Piloted in Ethiopia in the 1990s it has spread to Malawi, Uganda, Eritrea and Kenya. In an analysis of the programme by the [[Overseas Development Institute]], CABDA's focus on individual and community capacity-building is highlighted. This enables farmers to influence and drive their own development through community-run institutions, bringing food security to their household and region.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=2572&title=community-area-based-development-approach-cabda-programme-alternative-way-address-current-african-food-crisis
 |title=Community Area-Based Development Approach (CABDA) Programme. An alternative way to address the current African food crisis?
 |date=November 2008
 |publisher=Overseas Development Institute
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-date=25 December 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225120249/http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=2572&title=community-area-based-development-approach-cabda-programme-alternative-way-address-current-african-food-crisis
 }}</ref>

====The role of African Unity organization====
The organization of African unity and its role in the African crisis has been interested in the political aspects of the continent, especially the liberation of the occupied parts of it and the elimination of racism. The organization has succeeded in this area but the economic field and development has not succeeded in these fields. African leaders have agreed to waive the role of their organization in the development to the United Nations through the Economic Commission for Africa "ECA".<ref>Al-Kout, Bashir. (1987) "African Unity in the 20 century" :Cairo</ref>