Stuffed and Starved Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Stuffed and Starved - Essay Example He also says that also included are urban consumers who live in slums and do industrial jobs, or those who live in exclusive houses and work in big offices. The only people exempted from the list are corporate food executives. To them, the food system works excellently. The value of the food chain lay square at the hands of these corporations. Patel argues out his point using an appropriate example from India where farmers committed suicide due to agriculture and trade liberalization. The liberalization led to 20% fall in the rural income. Free Trade treaties cannot solve poverty issues in the developing nations. Chapter three of this book provides a definite example to Rajab’s stand in food distribution in most developing nations. Most Americans think and believe that it is the fault of the Mexicans that causes their poverty. However, according to Rajab, the problem or poverty in Mexico has its foundational cause in the American government and trade. The US and Canada entered a treaty with Mexico in order to allow free trade of goods among the countries. The treaty was signed in 1994. One of the examples that Patel uses in the book is that of the Mexican Free Trade Treaty with the US and Canada in 1994. 60% of Mexican cultivated land was used for growing corn, which was the key staple food for the larger Mexican population (Patel 54). The supporters of free trade had one thing in mind that by forcing producers to enter into competition with each other, there would be an automatic price fall, thus, helping the mass urban population. Corn price in most of the Mexican markets collapsed while the US imports into the country increased significantly (Ning.com). The US corn farmers, on the other hand, were heavily funded by their government through subsidies creating a conducive environment for them to carry out their trading activities. The market competition between the farmers from the two countries was, therefore, biased on the side of the Mexicans. The im pact of this type of trade was predictably undesirable on the Mexican side. Most of the Mexicans suffered malnutrition, with a great number becoming obese. Moreover, the step taken by Wal-Mart to organize and conduct a joint trade with Mexican’s Wal-Mex worsened the situation. Wal-Mart took three out of every ten pesos that was spent on food in the country (Patel 34). Another related epigraph that Raj is using in his book is about the step made by Britain, as the pioneer of grain trade, to encourage nations like India to sell their wheat stocks. This automatically brought about famine in the entire Asian continent, as India is the production house of grains in the entire continent. The British, on the other hand, enjoyed cheap foods especially the factory workers. Raj’s first insight was that free market always favors consumers, and not producers. It lowers the prices, at the same time forcing most of the weakest products out of the market. This is not entirely true an y way. However, it does fit well in such a case. Free market certainly causes market price fall. This permits the same population to live with very few farmers and focus on knowledge or other skill related opportunities. For the profitability to be maintained, traders have an obligation to ensure that they expand their market and sell to more people. The more the number of buyers, the lesser the price, this is because of