POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

ARTICLE: WHY
CAN’T PEOPLE
FEED
THEMSELVES?
REFLECTION PAPER
 From the title of the article itself, the main question that the authors wanted to find an
answer to is why is there world hunger, when people have all the resources to make food for
themselves? The answer to this that they found is colonialism. According to Lappe and Collins,
“Colonialism destroyed the cultural patterns of production and exchange by which traditional
societies in “underdeveloped” countries previously had met the needs of the people.”

To demonstrate this, they mentioned that it is like the world has two sides but of the same
coin. The first side is the Minority, which in irony, has the most influence, power, and necessary
resources in the world to be able to feed themselves. While on the other hand, the Majority,
though they occupy most of the population, have the least authority and ability to procure ways
to create food for themselves.

This is where the colonial mentality makes itself known. This mindset is the feeling of
inferiority by the people due to colonization, in which most countries that have this are the
“underdeveloped” countries as mentioned in the article. Using the Philippines as an example,
which is an agricultural country. And yet, agriculture is the sector which has the least
contribution in the country’s GDP, and the farmers who plant rice crops themselves are still part
of the “Majority” side of the coin. Rice is the main food necessity in the country, and so the
farmers should be able to gain profit from this to be able to feed themselves. However, the
opposite is happening and they even lose their own food to eat, especially when due to this
mentality people are often depending on the goods imported to the country by foreign countries.

In conclusion, scarcity is not the reason for world hunger; instead it is because people
were simply stripped off of the ability to make food using what nature has provided, which is
more than enough for everyone in the world. The colonial mindset is the primary reason why
people “lost” the ability to feed themselves.
 REFERENCES:

GraduateWay, Inc. (2017). Why people can’t feed themselves? Retrieved from
https://graduateway.com/why-cant-people-feed-themselves/

Lappe, F. and Collins, J. (1977). Why can’t people feed themselves? Food First: Beyond the
Myth of Scarcity, 99-111. Retrieved from
http://staffwww.fullcoll.edu/jmcdermott/Cultural%20Anthropology_files/Why%20Can't%20Peo
ple%20Feed%20Themselves.pdf

Talavera, C. (2021). Agriculture sector remains the lowest contributor to GDP in 2020. The
Philippine Star. Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/06/18/2106216/agriculture-sector-remains-lowest-contri
butor-gdp-2020#:~:text=MANILA%2C%20Philippines%20%E2%80%94%20The%20agricultur
e%20sector,Philippine%20Statistics%20Authority%20(PSA)