Frances Moore Lappé - World Hunger: 10 Myths

World Hunger

Other books by both authors

Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity

World Hunger: Twelve Myths (with Peter Rosset)

Aid as Obstacle (with David Kinley)

Now We Can Speak

Other books by Frances Moore Lapp

EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want

Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity and Courage for the World We Really Want ( 2nd edition )

Democracys Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life

You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear (with Jeffrey Perkins)

Hopes Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet (with Anna Lapp)

The Quickening of America: Rebuilding Our Nation,Remaking Our Lives (with Paul Martin Du Bois)

Taking Population Seriously (with Rachel Schurman)

Rediscovering Americas Values

Betraying the National Interest (with Rachel Schurman and Kevin Danaher)

What to Do After You Turn Off the TV

Mozambique and Tanzania: Asking the Big Questions (with Adele Beccar-Varela)

Great Meatless Meals (with Ellen Ewald)

Diet for a Small Planet

Other books by Joseph Collins

How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas (with Stefano DeZerega and Zahara Heckscher)

The Impact of HIV/AIDS: A Population and Development Perspective (with Bill Rau)

AIDS in the Context of Development (with Bill Rau)

Communal Work and Rural Development in the State of Oaxaca in Mexico

Chiles Free-Market Miracle: A Second Look (with John Lear)

No Free Lunch:. Food and Revolution in Revolutionary Cuba (with Medea Benjamin and Michael Scott)

Nicaragua: What Difference Could a Revolution Make? Food and Farming in the New Nicaragua

World Hunger:
10 Myths

Frances Moore Lapp
and Joseph Collins

Grove Press

New York

The authors World Hunger: Twelve Myths was published by Grove Press in 1986 and revised in 1998

Copyright 2015 by Food First Books / Institute for Food and Development Policy

Cover design by Gretchen Mergenthaler

Author photograph by Dana Wendt

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of such without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated. Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or anthology, should send inquiries to Grove Atlantic, 154 West 14th Street, New York, NY 10011 or .

Published simultaneously in Canada

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-8021-2346-6

eISBN 978-0-8021-9098-7

Grove Press

an imprint of Grove Atlantic

154 West 14th Street

New York, NY 10011

Distributed by Publishers Group West

groveatlantic.com

To Olivier De Schutter

United Nations Special Rapporteur

on the Right to Food, 2008 to 2014,

for your courageous leadership

... all that we are and will and do depends,

in the last analysis, upon what we believe

the Nature of Things to be.

Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, 1945

Contents

Acknowledgments

A work that draws on so many disciplines could not have been written without the contributions of countless knowledgeable and generous people.

For their expertise, dedication, hard work, and willingness to assist us, we are profoundly grateful. Many have been invaluable to us in digging for the most critical source material and helping us to weigh complex questions. Of course, we alone take full responsibility for the books content.

First, we give special thanks to three superb Research Fellows who worked tirelessly and enthusiastically at the Small Planet Institute: Giulio Caperchi, Rachel Gilbert, and Ashley Higgs. For our chapter on trade, we are indebted especially to Sophia Murphy for her expert assistance. Additionally, SPI researchers Kelly Toups and Jessica Wallach added much-needed help. We give special thanks also to the Institutes manager, Natalie Vaughan-Wynn, who cheerfully orchestrated every step to the finish line.

And the list of those contributing goes on.

We thank the following interns, staff, and volunteers at the Small Planet Institute: Michael Barry, Noel Bielaczyc, Caroline Campbell, Anna Cimini, Allyson Clancy, Nadia Colburn, Lauren Constantino, Bryson Cowan, Ellen Donahue, Vahram Elagz, Dylan Frazier, Olivia Goolkasian, Ella Harvey, Tiffany Hawco, Zulakha Iqbal, Olivia Kefauver, Pa Kim, Ria Knapp, Curt Lyon, Jiwon Ma, Jeff Meltzer, Emily Nixon, Crystal Paul, Emma Puka-Beals, Michelle Russell, Freya Sargent, Derek Smallwood, and Emma Walters.

Others with special expertise in the diverse topics covered by our book kindly read drafts of the book or chapters related to their fields, and offered helpful feedback. For their guidance, we thank: Molly Anderson, John C. Berg, Jennifer Clapp, Tim Fessenden, Omar Clark Fisher, Benedikt (Benny) Haerlin, Meghann Jarchow, David H. Kinley III, Anna Lapp, Andre Leu, Mia MacDonald, Peter Mann, Bill Rau, Travis Reynolds, Gyorgy Scrinis, Paul Susman, Brian Tokar, Matthew Vork, and Richard L. Wallace.

Moreover, in our research, we turned many times to experts in specific fields who were willing repeatedly to answer our queries or connect us with other specialists. For their patient and prompt assistance, we thank the following: Abdolreza Abbassian, F. Phillip Abrary, Jeff M. Anhang, Ray Archuleta, Ned Beecher, Chuck Benbrook, Jennifer Blesh, David Briske, Carlo Cafiero, Thomas F. Carroll, Emily Cassidy, M. Jahi Chappell, Taarini Chopra, David A. Cleveland, Dana Cordell, Patricia Crease, Olivier De Schutter, Sue Edwards, Sonia Faruqi, Jonathan Foley, Maria Gabitan, Courtney Gallaher, James N. Galloway, Andreas Gattinger, Grace Gershuny, Doug Gurian-Sherman, Hans Herren, Betsy Hartman, Jack Heinemann, Eric Holt Gimnez, Pushker Kharecha, Gawain Kripke, Rattan Lal, Allison Leach, Michael Lipton, Fred Magdoff, Clare Mbizule, Nora McKeon, Tracy Misiewicz, Luke Nave, Marina Negroponte, Henry Neufeldt, Kristine Nichols, Meredith Niles, Yacouba Ouedraogo, Ian Paton, Ivette Perfecto, Michel Pimbert, Dr. G. V. Ramanjaneyulu, Talia Raphaely, Jake Ratner, Bill Rau, Chris Reij, William J. Ripple, Peter Rosset, Nadia Scialabba, Jessica Shade, Elson J. Shields, Pete Smith, Jomo Sundaram, Christoph Then, Sapna Elizabeth Thottathil, David Vaccari, John H. Vandermeer, Gatan Vanloqueren, Juergen Voegele, Linda Wessel-Beaver, Paul C. West, Timothy A. Wise, Hannah Wittman, Gretchen A. Zdorkowski, and the Landless Workers Movement.

Additionally, three professors kindly shared chapters with their students, enabling the book to benefit from their feedback. Our thanks to Molly Anderson, Lauret Savoy, and William Ripple.

At Grove Press weve been blessed to have the support of editors Patsy Wagner and Allison Malecha, managing editor Amy Vreeland, copyeditor Tom Cherwin, and cover designer Gretchen Mergenthaler.

Finally, Frances wishes to thank her family: Anthony and Clarice Lapp and Anna Lapp and John Marshall, for your steadfast encouragement at every step on this long path; and Richard Rowe, for your careful attention to seemingly endless drafts read aloud, your always insightful comments, and your love that kept me going.